Description: A very common fern of acid situations growing in woodland, shaded hedgebanks or ascending high up mountain ranges on rock outcrops (where it may be stunted and very small). Remarkable for having two sorts of leaf: the normal sterile (food-producing) one which is held more or less horizontally and a fertile, spore-producing one which has much narrower segments and is carried vertically.

All names: Blechnum spicant (L.) Roth; Lomaria spicant (L.) Desv.

Distribution Map from NBN: Blechnum spicant at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Blechnum spicant at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.