Transformational Gardening


Eastern Hay-Scented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula): Images

Date Location Notes Images
June 11, 2012 Southeastern, New Hampshire The smell from crushed Eastern Hay-Scented Fern is supposed to be like freshly cut hay, but I do not remember what that smell is like. This plant (when crushed) smells a little like Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina). Keys to identifying this fern:
  • Yellowish-green fern that grows singly from creeping rhizomes.
  • Narrow, lance-shaped blades (<25 cm wide) with a relaxed and narrowly-pointed tip.
  • Sori are small, cup-shaped (hard to see) and grow along the margin of the pinnules (usually near the tooth sinuses).
  • The leaves are bipinnate-pinnatafid
  • Hairs on the stipe, rachis and leaflet blades. (Note: Northern Lady Fern (Athyrium angustum) has brown to black scales on the stipe rather than hairs.)
Eastern Hay-Scented Fern can sometimes dominate large patches of the forest understory.
Date Location Notes Images
July 5, 2012 Southeastern, New Hampshire This definately smells like cut hay. You can see from the last picture that the sori have developed over the season. Also, it is now noticably bigger than New York Fern (Parathelypteris noveboracensis).
Date Location Notes Images
June 7, 2014 Central Connecticut