American royal fern is a deciduous perennial in the royal-fern family (Osmundaceae). This fern is native to both North, Central and South America. It occurs naturally in shaded forests, marshes, floodplains, swamp forests and other wetlands throughout its range. The species epithet means “spectacular.” The American royal fern likes sun or partial shade and acidic, moist, humus-rich soils. It grows 2 to 5 feet high and 2 to 3 feet wide. This plant can be clump-forming and is commonly used as shelter by small mammals. It changes from a beautiful green to a golden-brown color in fall. The fern does well in native, fern and shade gardens. Insects, Diseases and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems. VIDEO Created by Elisabeth Meyer for "Annuals, Perennials, Vines, and Groundcovers," a plant identification course developed in partnership with Longwood Gardens.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day) | Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight) | Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil drainage
Frequent Standing Water | Good Drainage | Moist
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 2 ft. 0 in. - 5 ft. 0 in. | Width: 2 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in.