Transformational Gardening

Eastern Hay-Scented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula): Images

Date Location Notes Images
June 11, 2012 Lehtinen Trails (in woods before second split in trail, on right), Runnels Road, Concord, New Hampshire The smell from crushed Eastern Hay-Scented Fern is supposed to be like freshly cut hay, but I do not remember what that smell is like. This plant (when crushed) smells a little like Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina). Keys to identifying this fern:
  • Yellowish-green fern that grows singly from creeping rhizomes.
  • Narrow, lance-shaped blades (<25 cm wide) with a relaxed and narrowly-pointed tip.
  • Sori are small, cup-shaped (hard to see) and grow along the margin of the pinnules (usually near the tooth sinuses).
  • The leaves are bipinnate-pinnatafid
  • Hairs on the stipe, rachis and leaflet blades. (Note: Northern Lady Fern (Athyrium angustum) has brown to black scales on the stipe rather than hairs.)
Eastern Hay-Scented Fern can sometimes dominate large patches of the forest understory.
Date Location Notes Images
July 5, 2012 North Curtisville Trails (take branch to left immediately and walk straight, on right side of trail after a couple of hundred yards or so), North Curtisville St., Concord, New Hampshire This definately smells like cut hay. You can see from the last picture that the sori have developed over the season. Also, it is now noticably bigger than New York Fern (Parathelypteris noveboracensis).
Date Location Notes Images
June 7, 2014 Black Spruce Bog, Newtown
(From RT. 25 take Botsford Hill Rd. (you will see Swanky Franks on the opposite side of RT 25) go for approx. 6/10 mile to High Bridge Rd. to #40-42 DVI Industrial Park. Walk 30 meters to the right up High Bridge Road and head in on trail to the left.)