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Silvery Glade Fern (Silvery Spleenwort)
Deparia acrostichoides (Athyrium thelypteroides, Diplazium acrostichoides)
Silvery spleenwort gets its name from the sori, which are nearly white when young and give the fronds a silvery sheen. Young fronds are yellow-green in color (see photo below).
• Family: Dryopteridaceae
• Habitat: rich, moist woods
• Height: 3 feet
• Location of spores: underside of frond (see second photo below)
• Stipe (leaf stalk): green and hairy; dark and slightly scaly at the base
• Growth pattern: asymmetric clump
• Persistence: deciduous
A group of silvery glade ferns.
Early in summer, the fronds have a light, yellow-green color.
Underside of a frond, showing the sori (spore-bearing structures). Silvery glade fern sori are oblong and arranged like a sergeant's stripes.