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Dryopteris goldieana
Also called Goldie's Wood Fern, Goldie's Shield Fern, Giant Wood Fern
Goldie's fern is a large, clump-forming native woodland fern of eastern North America, often the biggest wood fern there, with fronds up to about 1.8 m. It does best in shade with moist, rich, humus-heavy soil and shelter from wind.
Dryopteris goldieana, commonly called Goldie's wood fern or giant wood fern, is a fern native to the eastern United States and adjacent areas of Canada, from New Brunswick to Ontario and Georgia. It is the largest native North American species of Dryopteris and along with ostrich fern it is one of the largest ferns in eastern North America. Specimens are known with fronds six feet (1.8 meters) tall. D. goldieana hybridizes with many other species of Dryopteris and the hybrids tend to be larger than the pure species. It was named by William Hooker in honor of its discoverer, John Goldie. The epithet was originally published as goldiana, but this is regarded as a misspelling to be corrected.
Goldie's fern requires medium sunlight or shade and high humidity conditions to thrive along with moist soil with an abundance of organic matter. It also requires protection from wind.
Dryopteris hasseltii · Hay Scented Buckler Fern · Scaly Male Fern · Coastal woodfern · Mountain woodfern · Spinulose woodfern · Log fern · Cinnamon woodfern · Clinton's woodfern · Large Kidney Fern · Shield Fern · Serpent woodfern
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dryopteris goldieana 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.
