Common Names
American maidenhair, hair fern, maidenhair, maidenhair fern, rock fern, sweet fern.

Description
A perennial fern with fronds, or stems of small leaflets arranged alternately along a continuous stem. The pale green leaflets are fan-shaped with blunt lobes on outer curved edge. Stems are deep red-brown to shiny black. Rhizomes are creeping.

Flowering Period
Non-flowering plant.

Habitat
Moist, shaded, and limy rocks or step banks; humus-rich woods.

Harvest
Leaves.

Uses
This herb is used as a refrigerant, expectorant, and tonic. A tea of this herb is used to treat coughs, nasal congestion or catarrh, and hoarseness.