Ostrich Fern

Fiddleheads emerging from rotten stump.

The distinctive celery-like stalk of the fern.

Fiddleheads growing bigger. You can sautee them with butter but don't bother.
They taste awful.

Taller fiddleheads.

Here you can see the distinctive look of the ostrich fern —
the fronds seem to wrap decoratively around the stalk.

Taller ostrich ferns. At the time of these photos, there were no full grown ferns. And now I can't find any. I will, though, once school is over and I can spend more time in the woods.

This is the spore bearing frond of the ostrich fern.
Heather, our guide on the Wild Edibles walk said this
is last year's fern which is left standing in spring.
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Technorati Tags: Matteuccia struthiopteris, ostrich fern
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