Marsh fern

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Marsh fern

Marsh fern sori on underside of fertile leaf

Marsh fern sori on underside of fertile leaf

Marsh fern

Marsh fern habit

Marsh fern

Marsh fern

Marsh fern

Marsh fern habit

Marsh fern

Morphology

Culm

Stem long-creeping rhizome, slender, to 12 inches long, 1/25 to 1/8 in diameter, branched; scales few, ovate, light brown, appressed.

Leaves

Somewhat of two forms, lanceolate in outline, divided into distinct segments, each segment further partially divided; stalks slender, 3 to 24 inches, straw-colored, darker at base, glabrous above at maturity; lower surface and mid-veins minutely soft-hairy to nearly glabrous, brownish scales sometimes present; blade 4 to 22 inches long, 2.6 to 8 inches wide; sterile leaves shorter than fertile leaves, divisions somewhat broader; primary divisions nearly opposite or alternate, to 40 pairs, 1 to 4 inches long, .3 to .8 inches wide; tips pointed; division segments ovate to elliptic; margins entire or rarely toothed; tips rounded to pointed; fertile leaves taller, more erect, divisions narrower; primary divisions to 25 pairs, 1 to 4 inches long, .2 to .8 inch wide, tapering to pinnately-divided tip; lower divisions commonly shorter; division segments oblong, entire; sori round, borne on back of division segments, often running together with age and forming line around segment margins; indusium kidney-shaped, tan, without glands, often hairy.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist ground; marshes, wet woods and thickets, roadside ditches, stream banks, prairie ravines; sandy soils.

Distribution

East 1/2 of Kansas.

Reproduction

Ferns are plants that reproduce by spores rather than by true flowers.

Practical Information

Uses

The Iroquois used the roots as a gynecological aid.

Additional Notes