Fiddleheads 2026

Northern Lady Fern

Spring has come, and the recent warm weather has accelerated the development of our local ferns and fiddleheads. There are so many popping up and developing quickly it is difficult to choose which one to highlight for this article. I could probably do 4-5 different fiddleheads a week for a few weeks right now. I may try to do a weekly page or two of a selection of fern photos for that week from different locations in our area. In the meantime, if you want to see more fiddlehead identification photos, you can go to the Downloads section of this website. Under "Fern Photos Selection" you will find 16 different pages of fiddlehead ID (all done during 2020, when we had so much time on our hands...).

The highlight for today is the Northern Lady Fern (Athyrium angustum). We usually just call them Lady Ferns, but the Southern Lady Fern is found in eastern MA, in case you see similar ferns out there. They are striking in their shape and their distinctive dark scales. They change shape as they uncurl in a beautiful and unusual way. It is hard to describe them, but if you look at this photo you might be able to see a profile of an elephant head with a long curling trunk. Or what do you see? The dark scales are on the stipe from the youngest fiddleheads and are a good way to identify Lady Ferns. They stand out against the bright green stems, and are sometimes referred to as "hairy legs" for informal ID phrases. As fiddleheads go, this is a pretty easy one to identify consistently. They are a common native to our area, and one of our "Top Ten" Easy Common Ferns.

Our first Fern Walk of the Season is next Sunday, April 26th from 1-3PM. It will be at one of our favorite places, the Mt Toby (Roaring Brook) Waterfall off Rt 63 in Leverett. There is a wonderful variety of ferns in that area, including the Lady Fern. There will be a lot to see! There is a poster with more info linked to the Calendar listing.

Posted: to PV Fern News on Sun, Apr 19, 2026
Updated: Sun, Apr 19, 2026