Male fern
Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott
- light
- Part–shade
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 76 cm
- wide
- 76 cm
Polypodiaceae
Also called Common woodfern, Falguera muscle, Poisonous Fern, Male-fern
Formerly Aspidium filix-mas, Filix filix-mas, Lastrea filix-mas, Lophodium filix-mas, and 5 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Temp. Northern HemisphereKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Part shade to shade (under 6 h)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 61 cm to 91 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 61 cm to 91 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, not yet checkedOne source. Checker: NC State Extension page does not state medium: it says moist, well-drained, organically rich soil
- Coldest it survives
- -34.4 °C (USDA zone 4a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: flowers, heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- helecho macho
- French
- Fougère-mâle commune, Fougère mâle, dryoptère fougère-mâle
- root
- DRYFIL, trøllakalskampur
- German
- Gemeiner Wurmfarn, Gewöhnlicher Wurmfarn
- Finnish
- kivikkoalvejuuri
- Czech
- kapraď samec
- Swedish
- Träjon
- Lithuanian
- Kelminis papartis
- Danish
- Almindelig mangeløv
- Dutch
- Mannetjesvaren, mannetjesvaren
- Russian
- Щитовник мужской
- Galician
- Fento macho
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, Public domain
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Dryopteris filix-mas (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.