Dryopteris filix-mas 'LINEARIS POLYDACTYLON' male fern

Dryopteris

The genus Dryopteris is among the oldest and most widespread ferns of the Northern Hemisphere. It comprises roughly 300 species that inhabit temperate woodlands, mountain regions and cooler subtropical zones. Fossil finds show that the ancestors of today’s ferns of this type already appeared in the Mesozoic era, when ferns formed the understorey of ancient forests long before the rise of flowering plants. The generic name Dryopteris comes from Greek and means “oak fern”, a reference to the frequent occurrence of these plants in deciduous woods, especially beneath oaks. The first comprehensive botanical circumscription of the genus was made by the French botanist Michel Adanson (1727–1806), and later elaborated by, among others, Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765–1812) and John Lindley (1799–1865). Dryopteris became one of the foundational genera around which modern pteridology, the study of ferns, developed.

In the mid‑19th century ferns became something between a science, a fashion and a mild obsession; people collected, printed, embroidered and displayed them in rooms and in Wardian cases, which made it possible to transport and cultivate exotic species far from their native homes. Charles Kingsley, an Anglican clergyman, writer and social reformer known for his novels and for popularising the natural sciences, even coined the term “pteridomania” in 1855, describing with both amusement and wonder how daughters and fathers alike were “struck” by the new passion. It turned out that fern collecting was not only a pastime for gentlemen in hats; it was an activity that crossed class and gender lines. Women found in pteridomania a respectable route into natural history and domestic display, while newly available railways and popular publications broadened collecting opportunities. Fern motifs appeared not only in pots and gardens but also on porcelain, textiles, furniture and tombstones, and their quiet, prehistoric beauty suddenly resonated with the Victorian desire to connect with an ancient nature.

The male fern, Dryopteris filix‑mas, is one of the best known and most widespread species in the genus. It was described by Carl von Linné (1707–1778) in 1753 in his Species Plantarum. The specific name filix‑mas, literally “male fern”, stems from an old folk distinction between more robust ferns, thought to evoke masculine vigour, and finer ones, thought to suggest feminine charm, rather than from any botanical sexing. This species has accompanied people for centuries. In European woods it has long been seen as a symbol of strength and endurance, and its rhizomes were used in folk medicine as a remedy against intestinal parasites, although we now know such treatments were risky. The male fern has also become the archetypal woodland fern in literature and the visual arts, often representing shade, calm and the permanence of the forest. All of this made it a cornerstone from which many attractive garden forms and cultivars were developed.