Skip to main content
fern

fern

54 1.3
A plant with feathery leaves that has no flowers and makes spores
  • noun
  • /fɜrn/
translation icon : helecho
  • In the rainforest, ferns thrive in the moist, shaded areas beneath the canopy.
  • fern fronds
  • ferns and mosses
  • ferns and flowering plants

And between their their graves, a red Fern grows.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Hunters carry the little creatures to market wrapped in fern fronds and balanced on a shoulder pole.

    Academic text (1994)
  • What they had pictured when they imagined the new bathroom: ferns, black ceramic tile, and Candlelight White.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • It's in the hall, by the fern.

  • I'm taking this love fern with me.

  • There are copper Fern leaves, but they're rare.

  • On the other side of the stone wall, the hill overgrown with fern slopes downward.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Beyond the fences, Grant saw dense clusters of large ferns, five feet high.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He saw that the growth of the Fern was luxuriant, vibrant, and abundant.

  • Two prominent ferns are intermediate fern and hay-scented fern; the latter is especially common in disturbed areas.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Nearby, there was also coltsfoot and several kinds of ferns that had flavorful roots.

    Fiction book (1990)

Compounds

1 7.4

Young curled fern leaves that people eat in spring

1 6.9

A very large fern that grows in wet tropical forests

1 7.4

A tall fern with large curved leaves that look like ostrich feathers

1 6.1

A tall fern with a thick woody trunk and large leaves at the top

1 9.9

A tall fern with long arching leaves that look like a feather

A large tropical fern with long feathery leaves often grown in pots for decoration

A small, delicate fern from Bermuda with thin leaves and stems that spread along the ground

9.6

A North American fern with small round growths on its leaves

bead fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A spreading fern with fronds divided into small beadlike lobes and round spore clusters

bear's-paw fern
  • Philippine
9.9

A fern with large leaves that grows on trees in humid places

beech fern
  • Specialized
8.4

A fern with deeply cut triangular leaves that makes a soft ground cover

bird's nest fern
  • Specialized
8.8

A tropical fern with long curved leaves that form a round nest in tree forks

bird's-foot fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A small fern with purple-brown stalks and divided leaves like a bird's foot

black tree fern
  • Australian
8.8

A large fern with a tall dark trunk and long feather-like leaves that form a crown

bladder fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A fern with delicate leaves and a hood that covers its spore clusters

Braun's holly fern
  • Specialized
9.7

A North American fern with leathery leaves that stay green all year and pale brown flaky scales

A houseplant fern with long arching leaves that people grow indoors

boulder fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A fern with pale green leaves that smells like hay and grows in eastern North America

bristle fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A small fern with thin, often almost clear leaves that grows on trees or mossy banks

A delicate fern with thin divided leaves and easily broken stems

8.1

A delicate fern with thin divided leaves and stems that break easily

A tropical fern with thin, easily broken leaves often grown indoors for its pretty look

broad beech fern
  • Specialized
9.3

A plant with wide leaves found in North American woods marked by light straw-colored stripes

A European fern with broad, shield-shaped leaves that grows in woodlands

button fern
  • New Zealand
6.2

A small fern with round leaves that people often grow indoors

buckler fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant with shield-shaped covers over its spore clusters that grows in shady, damp places

bulblet bladder fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A North American fern with small bulbs on its leaves

bulblet fern
  • Specialized
9.8

A North American fern that makes small bulbs on parts of its leaves

A large plant with leaves like a fern, small white flowers, and all parts very poisonous if eaten

A fern from the Canary Islands and Madeira with soft, hairy underground stems like a hare's foot

A small water plant with many thin leaves that floats on ponds and in aquariums

A fern with narrow, strap-like leaves that grows from Florida to Argentina

chain fern
  • Specialized
8.6

A fern with long leaves that have chainlike rows of small spore cases underneath

7.8

A large North American plant with hairy cinnamon-colored fronds that appear in spring

A North American fern that stays green in winter and has long divided leaves

A fern with long leaves that wrap around other plants to grow upward

A fern with thin, delicate leaves that climbs or trails over rocks and walls

9.9

A fern that climbs trees and has broad leaves that look like a bird's nest

9.7

An evergreen fern from California and Baja California with dark brown stems on its leaves

clover fern
  • Specialized
8.7

A water fern with leaves divided into four small parts like a clover

7.8

A fern with large antler-shaped leaves often grown on wooden boards

cow-tongue fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A fern with long flat pale green leaves that grows on trees or on the ground in warm places

crape fern
  • New Zealand
9.9

A fern from New Zealand with divided leaves and very woolly stalks

creeping fern
  • Specialized
8.8

A delicate fern with stems that grow along the ground and some forked leaves

crepe fern
  • Australian
9.4

A fern with thin, crinkled leaves that grows in humid, shaded rainforests

A rare small fern with thin curled leaves that grows in thick clumps on the ground

9.4

An evergreen fern with long narrow pointed leaves

A fern with leaves shaped like daisy petals that grows in damp woods in North America, Europe, and Asia

A fern with leaves that look like a daisy

8.2

A green fern with feathery leaves that grows in shady woods and is sometimes eaten by deer

ditch fern
  • Specialized
9.5

A large fern with long divided leaves that grows in wet places

elkhorn fern
  • Australian
9.3

A large fern with fronds like deer antlers that grows on trees and is kept as a decorative plant

9.9

A low plant with long divided leaves that forms a green mat in shady wet places

A fern with a thin spike that looks like a snake's tongue

annual fern
  • Specialized
7.2

A small fern that lives only one year and grows quickly

A small fern with narrow leaves that grows in dry, shaded places in the southeastern United States

A plant with delicate feathery leaves that grows in cool mountain areas

A fern that grows on rocks or walls in shady places in North America and East Asia

A North American fern with leaves like a fan that curve back and shiny dark red stems

A fern that grows in rocky places in northern North America with leaves like parsley

A houseplant that has thin feathery leaves like a fern but is not a true fern

A fern that grows in water or very wet places

ball fern
  • Indian
8.8

A small plant with delicate feathery leaves from tropical Asia often grown in shaded gardens

A fast growing fern with broad dark green leaves that people grow for decoration in shade

A North American fern with leaves that stay green all year

A fern with bright green leaves like parsley that grows in rocky places in Europe

fan fern
  • Australian
8.9

A large plant that grows in Australia and New Zealand with fan-shaped leaves that split many times

9.9

A type of fern with delicate, fan-shaped leaves often grown in gardens

fern family
  • Specialized
4.3

A group of plants like ferns that have long leaves and make spores

fern palm
  • Indian
9.7

A tropical plant with palmlike leaves that look like a fern

A small decorative palm with thin stems and coarse fibers at the leaf bases

fern seed
  • Archaic
9.9

A tiny spore from a fern, once thought to make you invisible

fern ally
  • Specialized
8.6

Plants like clubmosses and horsetails that look like ferns but are not true ferns

How Showy

impala lily
  • South African
9.3
Hibiscus
  • Specialized
1 5.5
rhododendron
8 6.2
marigold
11 2.4
dandelion
22 1.0
fern
54 1.3
moss
46 1.0

Surface Forms

fern singular
ferns plural

Etymology

Fern comes from an old English word fearn meaning 'feathery plant'. Because the plant has soft, feather-like leaves, that old name helps us remember that a fern is the plant with those divided, feathery leaves.