Cystopteris bulbifera – Bulblet Bladder Fern – Dryopteridaceae (The Wood Fern Family)

Description Cystopteris bulbifera is a very fast growing North American fern known as bulblet bladder fern. This graceful fern forms a loose rosette of ascending to widely spreading fronds tapering to a very long apex. The light green fronds feature pairs of nearly sessile pinnae that have 5-15 pairs of toothed sub-pinnae. It produces small, green, fleshy bulblets on the underside of the fronds near the axils of the leaflets that can detach to form new plants. Fiddleheads appear in early spring on bright red to maroon stems sparsely covered in tiny, pale scales. Use in cottage or woodland gardens, along pond and streams edges, in shady beds and borders, or other areas with consistent moisture. Photo credit: Wikipedia.