General Culture:

Best grown in organically rich, consistently moist, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. Foliage browns if soils dry out. Spreads by short creeping rhizomes. May form large colonies over time in optimum growing conditions. Propagate by division.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Narrow-leaved glade fern is a deciduous fern that typically grows 2-3’ tall in a circular clump of 5-6 fronds per rootstock. It is native from Quebec to Minnesota south to Louisiana and Georgia. In Missouri, it typically occurs in moist woodlands in ravines and stream valleys. Fronds are somewhat dimorphic. Arching sterile fronds (to 2.5’ long) have 20-40 pairs of alternately arranged pinnae. More erect fertile fronds are taller and narrower with thinner pinnae than the sterile fronds. Sterile fronds appear in spring, but the fertile fronds develop as the summer progresses. Synonymous with Diplazium pycnocarpon. Additional common names include silvery spleenwort, narrow-leaved spleenwort and glade fern.