A shuttlecock of pale, lacy, twice- or thrice-divided fronds that droop at the tips and die away every autumn
Lady fern.
Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants
Lady fern
Native · deciduous fern to 1.2 m · damp woods, hedgerows and stream banks
Athyrium filix-femina — Athyriaceae
Lady fern is the delicate, lacy fern of damp woodland and shady hedgebanks, its pale yellowish-green fronds forming a soft shuttlecock that arches over at the tips. It was named 'lady' in contrast to the coarser male fern, though the two are not close relatives. It is one of the commonest British ferns and dies back completely each autumn.
How to spot them
- ▸Soft, feathery, yellowish-green fronds that are two or three times divided, held in a shuttlecock and drooping at the tips
- ▸Frond widest in the middle and tapering at both ends, on a fairly short, thin stalk
- ▸Curved, hooked or horseshoe-shaped spore clusters on the underside, not the round-kidney ones of male fern
- ▸Deciduous, collapsing at first frost and re-emerging as tightly coiled croziers in spring
- ▸Look-alike: male fern is coarser and darker, with a thick scaly stalk and kidney-shaped sori; lady fern is finer and paler
How to know it
Named for its elegance and delicacy, in deliberate contrast to a coarser 'male' relative
Lady fern — the Latin species name filix-femina means 'female fern'.
Its spore clusters are curved into hooks and horseshoes on the frond underside
Lady fern — versus the kidney-shaped sori of male fern.
A fern of damp woodland and shaded hedgerows that can reach 1.2 m, with a delicate frond tapering to both ends
Lady fern — the Wildlife Trusts give a height of up to 1.2 m.
Its Latin species name means 'female fern', from the old belief that delicate ferns were female and robust ones male
Lady fern — filix-femina.
Quick-fire facts
- •The species name filix-femina translates as 'female fern'; the old herbalists thought the delicate ferns were female and the robust ones male
- •Grows up to 1.2 m tall, according to the Wildlife Trusts, and is visible from March to November
- •Prefers damp, shady, slightly acid ground but tolerates many soils
- •Ferns reproduce by spores, not seeds; the spores are carried in curved sori on the underside of the frond
- •Widespread and common across Britain, unlike the more western royal fern
- •The Wildlife Trusts note it is named for its elegance and delicacy, yet is not in the same family as the male fern
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Lady fern