Dryopteris filix-mas(L.) Schott

male fern

WFO wfo-0001109081 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Анна Рыбакова
fig. a Анна Рыбакова, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205742584
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. b Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205694056
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Derek Winterburn
fig. c Derek Winterburn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205553781
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Zeke Marshall
fig. d Zeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204352165
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. e Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205820934
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Josep Gesti
fig. f Josep Gesti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 205202413
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Jon Mortin
fig. g Jon Mortin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203924829
Dryopteris filix-mas, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. h Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203942321

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 66 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Abrotanum mas Garsault
  • Aspidium depastum Schkuhr
  • Aspidium erosum Schkuhr
  • Aspidium expansum Dietr.
  • Aspidium expansum D.Dietr.
  • Aspidium filix-mas (L.) Sw.
  • Aspidium filix-mas f. crenatum
  • Aspidium filix-mas f. erosum (Döll) Zapal.
  • Aspidium filix-mas f. erosum (Döll) Döll
  • Aspidium filix-mas f. heleopteris (Borkh.) Milde
  • Aspidium filix-mas f. incisum Döll
  • Aspidium filix-mas var. crenatum Milde
  • Aspidium filix-mas var. erosum (Schkuhr) Pursh
  • Aspidium filix-mas var. erosum Döll
  • Aspidium filix-mas var. heleopteris (Borkh.) Christ
  • Aspidium filix-mas var. heleopteris (Borkh.) Milde
  • Aspidium mildeanum Göpp.
  • Aspidium nemorale Gray
  • Aspidium opizii Wierzb.
  • Aspidium umbilicatum (Poir.) Desv.
  • Aspidium veselskii Hazsl. ex Domin
  • Dryopteris bohemica Domin
  • Dryopteris digenea Domin
  • Dryopteris filix-mas f. crenata (Milde) Diklić & V.Nikolić

and 42 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.