lady fern

American  

noun

1. a fern, Athyrium filix-femina, having delicate, feathery fronds.

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lady fern British  

noun

1. a large, graceful, but variable fern, Athyrium filix-femina, with bipinnate fronds, commonly found on damp acid soils in woods and on hillsides

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lady fern

Several species grow in our woods, including the ubiquitous sensitive fern, the unusual Goldie’s fern and the finely textured lady fern with its attractive reddish midstem.

From New York Times ● May 24, 2012

She knew where lady fern grew and phantom orchids and warted giant puffballs.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

In the ostrich fern and lady fern the plants are diœcious.

From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton

And when she came to the lonesome glen, She kept beside the burn, And neither plucked the strawberry flower Nor broke the lady fern.

From Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories The Young Folks Treasury, Volume 1 by Hale, Edward Everett

Underwood, writing of the lady fern under the genus Asplenium, mentions the form "exìle, small, starved specimens growing in very dry situations and often fruiting when only a few inches high."

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry