Lady Ferns
For this weeks iNaturalist post, I chose one of my favorite plants- Lady Ferns. Also known as Athyrium filix-femina, they are a naturally occurring common fern found throughout much of the United States in places such as Alabama, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Alaska. It thrives in the shade, or partial shade, of the forest floor here in Juneau and is mostly deer proof if you have that kind of problem. Their stems and fiddleheads tend to have wood-like husks and their spores are released on the underside of their fronds. The traditional Haida name is "ts'aagwaal" and are typically harvested towards the beginning of spring when they are still considered fiddlehead, or not sprouted fully. People cook them like they would brussel sprouts or asparagus, pickle them in brine, and even use them as a pizza topping (Schofield). There is a restaurant up north in Talkeetna, Alaska called Mountain High Pizza Pie and seasonally they offer fiddleheads as an appetizer or pizza topping and I would highly recommend them! If you decide to go and harvest, you must be mindful because if one of the clusters is over harvested, it can cause the entire plant to die. Overall the far-reaching and beautifully sprawling plants have amazed me since I was a child. I have spent many summers harvesting them with my mom and friends to make pickled fiddleheads and every now and then I go through a phase where all I want to do is eat them. Someday I hope to get a fern tattoo to show my appreciation of the beautiful plant and they never fail to bring a smile to my face.
Citations-
Janice J. Schofield. Alaska’s Wild Plants, Revised Edition : A Guide to Alaska’s Edible and Healthful Harvest. Alaska Northwest Books, 2020. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=0d60d39e-3da1-34cc-9d8a-4b9a94fb4768.
Patterson Webster. Autobiography of a Garden. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022. EBSCOhost,
research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=b7d16117-89ad-3fc5
8554-33379db292ce.