Musings

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Male Fern






















This grows in the garden: Male Fern, Dryopteris filix-mas. It is common in the UK, with kidney-shaped sori (bottom right). In ancient literature it is referred to as 'worm fern' because its root used to be used to treat worm infections. Filix means fern and mas means male. It was thought to be a male version of the Female Fern, Anthyrium filix-femina.

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