Flowering ferns are one of the largest of our native ferns and are fairly common, they grow in vase-like clumps with sterile fronds surrounding the more erect, fertile fronds.  The fiddleheads emerge early in spring (fertile ones emerge first) and are covered with wooly white or reddish-brown hair.

These ferns are ancient and have distinctive sporangia that are not aggregated into distinct sori like other ferns, rather they are individually attached and clustered on pinnae of the fertile fronds.  Spores are green and short-lived, so they must be sown within a week after they ripen.