Western Maidenhair Fern - pəpəčac, cabcəbac - (Adiantum aleuticum)
Please Note: This item's higher price is a direct result of tariffs.
A deciduous perennial, the Maidenhair Fern leaves are extremely textured, but more delicate-looking than some of the other PNW ferns. A lower of moist sites in lots of shade, it is found all throughout the south of Alaska, Aleutian Islands (for which the species is named after in reference to the Aleut, an Indigenous people of the islands), and all the way down into Oregon and parts of California, and a handful of northeastern North American spots as well.
The stalks of the Maidenhair fern are typically purplish-brown-black, growing out in a fanlike pattern. Maidenhair ferns spread via spores and can spread during most of the growing season with peaks in summer. They act as shelter and resting spots for many small creatures, amphibians, arthropods, insects, and mammals. It’s a great landscaping plant for places that are extremely shady and wet but can also be used as borders and can do well in partial shade.
The stems of the Maidenhair fern have been used by Indigenous American tribes in basketry, the leaves as hair wash, or even the burned ash as a hair protection.
*Full to partial shade
*Prefers well-draining, moist soil high in organic matter
*Good in landscaping in shady/wet areas, woodland gardens, as borders, and can grow along rocks and cliffs so long as they are moist
*Mature at about 3 feet in width, 4-30 inches tall
*Fire Friendly in intermediate zone 2, 5-30ft
*Sold as plugs
*Sold in bundles of 5
pəpəčac, cabcəbac *Lushootseed provided by the Puyallup Tribal Language Program and audio by Chris Briden, Puyallup Tribal member.
Image Attribution:
1. USFWS/Southeast, Public domain, via
2. Jhorthos, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
3. © "Maidenhair Fern" by andipantz via Canva.com
4. Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
5. Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons