Field Guide

Horsetails, or scouring rushes, are in the genus Equisetum. They’re easy to recognize with their jointed, hollow stems. Like ferns, they reproduce via spores instead of flowers and seeds.

Ebony spleenwort is a common forest-floor fern with wiry, shiny, dark brown leaf stalks and a ladderlike series of dark green, narrowly oblong leaflets.

Lowland brittle fern, also called southern fragile fern, is an easily recognized species. It’s a common springtime sight in moist forest soils.

Rattlesnake fern rises from the ground with a single stalk. A lacy-cut, bright green fern leaf is stalkless at its tip. At the same joint, a single upright stalk arises that bears clusters of tiny ball-shaped spore cases.

Cut-leaf grape fern appears as a single, leathery fern leaf. Another stalk grows upward from the base and bears yellowish spore cases that resemble tiny bunches of grapes. The fleshy leaves turn reddish brown in fall.

Four species of adder’s tongue ferns occur in Missouri. They don’t look like typical ferns. They have spoon-shaped leaves and an upright spore-bearing stalk.