Adiantum pedatum L.
Northern maidenhair fern
Northern maidenhair fern is native to North America. It prefers rich, moist, well-drained wooded slopes, ravine bottoms, and rock faces with a lot of moisture. Note: The photos from Ice Glen in Stockbridge MA look more like southern maidenhair fern than northern. But southern maidenhair fern is well outside of its natural range here, and a list of Ice Glen species includes the northern variety, so I have tentatively assumed that these photos are the northern. Personally I think they are central maidenhair fern. Okay ... kidding ... but it is very likely that this fern is one of the other 250, barely documented species of Adiantum.
Plants: Plants are deciduous, 12–30″ (30–75 cm) tall. Stems are reddish-brown to black and wiry; roots are also wiry, and black.
Leaves: Fronds are 8–20″ (20–50 cm) long.
Fruits: Spores are found on the outer edges of spore-bearing pinnae, and may cause the edges to fold.
Habitats: Rich, moist, well-drained wooded slopes, ravine bottoms, and rock faces with a lot of moisture. Note: The photos from Ice Glen in Stockbridge MA look more like southern maidenhair fern than northern. But southern maidenhair fern is well outside of its natural range here, and a list of Ice Glen species includes the northern variety, so I have tentatively assumed that these photos are the northern. Personally I think they are central maidenhair fern. Okay ... kidding ... but it is very likely that this fern is one of the other 250, barely documented species of Adiantum.
Online References:
References:
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm) 
Semi-crested form. · 5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 12″ (44 × 29 cm) 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (48 × 34 cm) 
6/9/2017 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 20 cm) 
9/1/2017 · Worcester Road, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 8″ (29 × 20 cm) 
Semi-crested form. · 5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 12″ (44 × 29 cm) 
5/26/2024 · McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, South Paris, Maine 
6/22/2017 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm) 
This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 5″ (16 × 12 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm) 
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 14 × 9″ (35 × 23 cm) 
6/9/2017 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 20 cm) 
6/12/2016 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 14 × 9″ (35 × 23 cm) 
This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 5″ (18 × 13 cm) ID is uncertain 
6/22/2014 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (47 × 31 cm) 
6/22/2014 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 9″ (30 × 23 cm) 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (52 × 34 cm) 
6/12/2016 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Pteridophyta | Ferns |
| Class | Filicopsida | “Leptosporangiate” (has to do with how their spores form) ferns—includes most ferns |
| Order | Polypodiales | Polypod ferns |
| Family | Pteridaceae | Ferns that grow on rocks (mostly) |
| Genus | Adiantum | Maidenhair ferns |
| Species | pedatum | Like a bird’s foot, with divisions radiating from a single point |
Adiantum pedatum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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