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Dryopteris filix-mas
Also called Common Male Fern, Male Shield Fern, Male Wood Fern, Falguera Muscle, Poisonous Fern, Common Woodfern, Male Woodfern
Male fern is a hardy, semi-evergreen fern of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, found in damp shaded woodland and on rocky banks. It is easy to grow in cool, moist, shaded conditions, and several garden cultivars exist.
Dryopteris filix-mas, the male fern, is a common fern of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, native to much of Europe, Asia, and North America. It favours damp shaded areas in the understory of woodlands, but also shady places on hedge-banks, and rocks, and screes. Near the northern limit of its distribution it prefers sunny, well-drained sites. It is much less abundant in North America than in Europe.
Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
D. filix-mas
The rhizomes of D. filix-mas are toxic. Doses too big can cause serious poisoning, blindness and even death.
Scaly Male Fern · Coastal woodfern · Shaggy Wood Fern · Broad buckler-fern · Autumn Fern · Intermediate woodfern · Southern woodfern · Siebold's Wood Fern · Alpine woodfern · Woodfern · Wood Fern
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dryopteris filix-mas by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
