Ostrich fern

Description

Matteuccia is a genus of ferns with one species, Matteuccia struthiopteris (common names ostrich fern, fiddlehead fern or shuttlecock fern). The species epithet struthiopteris comes from Ancient Greek words, στρουθίων (strouthíōn) "ostrich" and πτερίς (pterís) "fern". The fronds are dimorphic, with the deciduous green sterile fronds being almost vertical, 100–170 cm (39–67 in) tall and 20–35 cm (7.9–13.8 in) broad, long-tapering to the base but short-tapering to the tip, so that they resemble ostrich plumes, hence the name. The fertile fronds are shorter, 40–60 cm (16–24 in) long, brown when ripe, with highly modified and constricted leaf tissue curled over the sporangia; they develop in autumn, persist erect over the winter and release the spores in early spring.