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An unmistakable fern in which the spores are produced on separate stems (rather than on the backs of the fronds) that rise up into the vase of light green foliage. These turn the colour of cinnamon. Great for a shaded garden and moist to average soils. Deciduous. The fiddleheads are sometimes steamed and eaten in spring, though ostrich fern, Matteucia struthiopteris, is the more common culinary fern.
Sandy or alluvial soils in swamps, low woods and thickets in eastern North America. Moist areas, acidic soils, frequently in vernal seeps from sea level to 2300 m.