Washingwell Woods - July 1988 18th August 2010 |
Common in woods and on rocks and banks, often found as a weed in corners of gardens. Leaves c 20-100 cm long About the same size as Male Fern and the Buckler Ferns, but has sori elongated (curved or straight), not circular or kidney-shaped. Longest pinnae are near the middle, basal ones much shorter. Other features: Pinnules more deeply toothed than those of Male Fern. Fronds usually held rather horizontally and drooping at ends. Athyrium filix-femina is a large, feathery species of fern native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, where it is often abundant (one of the more common ferns) in damp, shady woodland environments and is often grown for decoration. The plant is caespitose (the fronds arising from a central point as a clump rather than along a rhizome). The fronds are light yellow-green, 20-90 cm long and 5-25 cm broad; they are deciduous. Sori appear as dots on the underside of the frond, 1-6 per pinnule. They are covered by a prominently whitish to brown reniform (kidney-shaped) indusium. Fronds are very dissected, being 3-pinnate. The stripe may bear long, pale brown, papery scales at the base.
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Photo ©
Keith Robson