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Moss, Ferns & Cryptogams

Fern or Not?

16 years ago

I have lots of lovely ferns in my yard here in Massachusetts which I haven't identified yet. They are just starting to pop up. One area in particular has caught my curiosity: aming the fiddleheads there is another type of greenery that looks related to Bleeding Hearts. It's a very delicate little plant with trios of three leaves. I dug some up this weekend, along with the ferns, but even out of the ground I couldn't get the two plants apart. Are they maybe two parts of the same fern? I don't know anything about ferns.

Here is a photo of the two types of foliage. The entire patch seems to have an even mix of the two leaf types.

{{gwi:602167}}

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Comments (4)

Iris GW
16 years ago
Below the ferns is foliage that I think is associated with some type of rue (Thalictrum species)
stoloniferous
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you Esh, I will look into that. . .
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adlumia_fungosum
16 years ago
I beg to differ. I think it is actually Vancouveria hexandra, which is a cousin to the more familiar epimedium. Native to the west coast, but naturalized in certain parts of the east, as well. A lovely little woodland plant. I have it in my massachusetts shady garden, and I love it.
thefreddo
16 years ago
The ferns look like bracken to me, and the other plant is definitely not Vancouveria. I grow both V. hexandra and V. planipetala in my yard and I have to agree with esh_ga about the plant at the bottom of the picture, it looks like a rue.

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