Southern Lady Fern
Athyrium asplenioides
Also listed as Athyrium filix-femina subsp. asplenioides
Found in moist forests, bottomlands, streambanks. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 2–3 feet
- Spread
- 2–3 feet
- Light
- Dappled sunlight, Deep shade, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Space about 2.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 16 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- May to September
Recorded in 103 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Habitats
Moist forests; floodplain and bottomland forests; streams, rivers and their banks.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
3CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Athyrium
- Coptotriche aeneaBlackberry Leafminer Moth
- Gueneria similariaGhostly Fern Moth
- Korscheltellus gracilisConifer Swift Moth, Graceful Ghost Moth
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Athyriaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to neutral
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
- Height · “2–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Dappled sunlight (shade through upper canopy all day); Deep shade (less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil pH · “Acidic to neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “2–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Athyrium filix-femina subsp. asplenioides
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications