L. Wallis

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Moist to wet deciduous or mixed conifer-hardwood forests, especially abundant on river bottoms and along streams, sometimes persisting in the open after clearing.

This is a very tall fern with vegetative leaves sometimes to 2 m tall that grow in a symmetrical, vase like form; the fertile leaves are much smaller and brown. It spreads by long-creeping rhizomes to form large colonies that are a characteristic feature of many wet forests, but especially of bottomland forests. Young crosiers are the edible fiddleheads of commerce.

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