Athyrium is a genus of 180 species of terrestrial ferns, so strictly speaking is not a wildflower because it produces no blooms. It is native to moist woodland and forest in temperate and tropical regions around the world. Growing from a rhizome, the plants may be 6″ to 6′ tall and most have deciduous, feather, finely divided foliage. The fronds (=leaves) may be pinnate, three-pinnate, or pinnatifid and the stips (=stems) are often hairy or scaly at the base and may be grooved or smooth. Instead of producing seeds in fruit like flowering plants, ferns produce spores in sori (singular, sorus). The sori are located on the underside of the fronds, are usually linear or curved and are usually covered by a covering called an indusium, that is often curved or J-shaped.
Athyriums like shade or filtered light and moist, fertile, neutral to acidic soil. Propagation is by spores or division in spring.
The genus name, Athyrium, is from the Greek ἀ- (a-), meaning without, and the Greek word θύριον (thýrion) meaning little door, in references the plant’s indusium. The indusium of most ferns acts like a little door over the spore cases, but in Athyrium it is either absent or not shaped like a door, so the specific epithet is a misnomer.
Photo Credit: NC State Extension
The environmental conditions of New England have resulted in at least two species of lady fern native to the New England but they are native to other regions of the US too. The lady ferns described here are native to at least three states in New England.
Northern Lady Fern (Athyrium angustum)
The delicate fronds are twice divided and the stipe (stem) may be reddish-brown to purplish with small brown scales but no hairs. The sori are long, narrow, curved or straight, and have an indusium covering yellow spores.
Alternate Name/s: None
Native Range: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut as well as places in the Rocky Mountain area, Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic
Habitat: Moist, shady woodlands, stream bands, ravines, swampy or wetland margins
Type: Deciduous perennial
Height: 8-30″
Bloom Time: NA
Bloom Color: NA
Light: Partial to full shade (sun if adequate moisture available)
Soil: Humusy, consistently moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Southern Lady Fern (Athyrium asplenioides)
Broad, lacy fronds form whorled clumps that are 2-3′ tall and wide. The fronds may have reddish stipes (stems), are two to three pinnate or pinnatifid, light green, with the broadest part just above the base. The sori are either short and straight or long and recurved. An indusium covers spores that are dark brown when mature. An excellent choice for a ground cover for a woodland garden, along a stream bank, or at the edge of a shaded pond.
Alternate Name/s: None
Native Range: Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island as well as places in the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic
Habitat: Moist to wet forests, meadows, open thickets, occasionally swamps
Type: Deciduous perennial
Height: 2-3′
Bloom Time: NA
Bloom Color: NA
Light: Dappled shade to part and full shade
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-9
Photo Credit: NC State Extension
The New England area includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The area has four distinct seasons and offers diverse geography with rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, and coast lines on both the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound. The winters are long, cold, and heavy snow is common from December to February. Summer is short with temperatures between 80 and 85 F. Precipitation averages about 45″ as rain and 60-90″ as snow.