Northern Beech Fern

The northern beech fern, also called the long beech fern or narrow beech fern, is a fern of the family Thelypteridaceae native to forests across the Northern Hemisphere, growing ten to fifty centimeters tall. Its triangular leaf blade is pinnately compound at the base and cut nearly to the midrib further up, with narrow, hairy lobes on the underside. It grows in wet ground beside streams and springs and in coniferous swamps, rooting equally well on soil or rock, and prefers shaded, nutrient-rich, non-acidic sites, avoiding logged-over ground.