A Small and Tall Fern
Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron)
In May the forest is green. New leaves on trees and shrubs flutter in the breezes. The ground is covered by plants that have pushed through the leaf litter. The wildflower garden and trail have many ferns. The fiddleheads have unfurled, forming large clumps of delicate and not so delicate fronds. Christmas Ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) line the banks of the creek.
The Northern Maidenhair Fern is especially happy in our woods. The wildflower garden and trail have many large clusters of this fern. This fern is easy to identify by its tall 14 inch blackish petioles, shiny purple leaf axes, and fronds in the shape of a horseshoe. It is native to North Carolina and likes rich, moist woods. It is graceful and airy in the summer garden, but dies back in the fall.
Ebony Spleenwort is a small fern. Many of them dot the hill behind the amphitheater seating in the wildflower garden. This is a dimorphic fern with vegetative leaves short and close to the ground and much taller, erect fertile leaves. It’s the tall fertile leaves that catch your eye. The leaves can grow to 3 inches wide and 1 foot tall, but most often the fern is much smaller. This fern is semi-evergreen.
These ferns are beautiful with moss, dead wood, and rocks on the forest floor. Now is a good time to come out and see them.
