Fall Ferns

Blunt-lobed Grape Ferns

Blunt-lobed Grape Fern (Sceptridium oneidense) is a fern that is hard to find in our area, although we believe we have seen a few scattered ones on our hikes. But they have all been small, not like this great example that has a 14" tall sporophore and a 6" wide sterile blade. We made a trek to Middlesex County to see a patch of these, led by our fern friend Elizabeth, who was nice enough to show us this special spot. As it says in the various guides, it grows in shaded moist or wet forests and swamps, and along the edges of wetlands. They were growing near Dissected (or Cut-leaf) Grape Ferns (Sceptridium dissectum). Cobb/Farnsworth/Lowe (2005) describe Blunt-lobed as a hybrid of Leathery Grape Fern (Sceptridium multifidum) and Dissected Grape Fern. Chadde (second edition 2023) notes that it used to be considered a variety, form or hybrid of the two. Now it is considerd its own species.

It just happens that I have posted a news article and photo of both the Dissected and the Leathery Grape Ferns not long ago, so you can look at them on this webpage to see the differences. There are older PVFS news articles with photos of Dissected and Leathery as well. This is the first time I had a good photo of a Blunt-lobed to show! All three grape ferns have sterile blades that remain green throughout the winter, although the Dissected often turn a beautiful bronze color. The many Dissected Grape Ferns we saw on our last Fern Walk in two cemeteries mostly had bronze colored sterile blades.

According to Chadde and Sessa (Ferns, Spikemosses, Clubmosses & Quillworts of Eastern North America), the Blunt-lobed Grape Ferns are scattered across the Northeast to the Great Lakes area. Sessa describes them as uncommon. Go Botany describes them as rare throughout the area. So we really enjoyed the opportunity to see these great ferns. Thank you Elizabeth! Another fern to keep an eye out for throughout the fall and winter.

Posted: to PV Fern News on Thu, Oct 9, 2025
Updated: Thu, Oct 9, 2025