Thelypteris palustris
Growing Information
• Plant Type: Perennial
• Sunlight: Sun
• Soils: Medium moisture to Wet
• Bloom Time: N/A
• Size: 1-2 feet in height; 1-2 foot spread
This native fern grows in wet meadows or on the shores of rivers and streams. It is fairly easy to distinguish, because of its upright form and folded pinnule (leaf) margins. It has one look-alike, the Massachusetts fern, and the two can be singled out by looking at the lowest pair of pinnae (leaves). These pinnae on the Massachusetts fern point downward and on marsh fern they do not.
Garden Companions
Meadowsweet (Spirea alba), New York Ironweed (Vernonia novaboracensis)
Nature Benefits
• Stabilizes shores and banks.
• Only known host plant of the Marsh Fern Moth (Fagitana littera)
Native Habitat
Occurs in marshes and wetland margins, shores of rivers and ponds