Spreading Wood Fern
Dryopteris expansa
A lacy, finely cut wood fern forming graceful shuttlecock clumps in cool, moist conifer forests. An elegant, easy native for shaded woodland beds and stream edges.
- Family
- Dryopteridaceae
- Type
- fern
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 1–3 ft
- Spacing
- 2–3 ft apart
- Light
- part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, CA, CO, ID, MI, MN, MT, OR, WA, WI, WY
Related native plants
More Dryopteris species
- Intermediate Wood Fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
- Marginal Wood Fern (Dryopteris marginalis)
- Spinulose Wood Fern (Dryopteris carthusiana)
- Crested Wood Fern (Dryopteris cristata)
- Southern Wood Fern (Dryopteris ludoviciana)
- Goldie's Wood Fern (Dryopteris goldiana)