USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Marsh Fern (Thelypteris thelypteroides)

• Family: Fern (Polypodiaceae)
• Fruiting: June-October
• Field Marks: This is a deciduous fern that grows in marshy soils. The leaves are divided 1 1/2 times
• Habitat: Marshes, wet woods.
• Habit: Perennial herb with slender, creeping, black rhizomes.
• Stems: No aerial stems present.
• Leaves: Deciduous, lanceolate, covered with short hairs, at least when young, divided 1 1/2 times into tiny, more or less toothless segments with forking veins.
• Reproductive Bodies: Circular, along the edges of the leaf segments.
• Notes: Marsh fern is usually known as Thelypteris palustris.