Matteuccia struthiopteris AGM

Shuttlecock Fern, Ostrich Fern, Fiddleheads Onocleaceae

A magnificent, large and rather exuberant fern, forming colonies of tall, upright, shuttlecock-like fronds that can easily reach 1–1.5 m. The sterile fronds are bright green, finely divided and beautifully symmetrical, emerging in spring as tightly curled fiddleheads before unfurling into the characteristic ostrich-plume foliage. Shorter, stiff, brown fertile fronds appear from the centre of the crown and persist through winter, giving the plant an attractive second act when the main foliage has disappeared. It spreads by rhizomes and is particularly happy in cool, moist soils, where it can make an impressive colony. 

Its natural range is remarkably broad, extending across the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including much of Europe and northern Asia, Japan and North America. In North America it is especially characteristic of the northeastern United States and Canada, growing along riverbanks, floodplains, wet woodland and other damp habitats. 

And then there is the edible bit. The young, tightly coiled sterile fronds — the celebrated fiddleheads — are harvested in spring and have long been eaten in northeastern North America. Properly cooked, they make an excellent spring vegetable with a flavour somewhere between asparagus, broccoli and spinach.  They must never be eaten raw or undercooked: outbreaks of food poisoning have been associated with insufficiently cooked fiddleheads. Current food-safety guidance recommends thorough boiling or steaming before further cooking. 

For the garden, give it fertile, humus-rich, reliably moist soil in shade or partial shade and let it do what it does best — make a splendid ferny thicket.

Hardiness: H5 (-15 to -10°C)
Height: 1–1.5 m
Spread: 1.5–2.5 m
Foliage: Deciduous
Season: Foliage April–autumn; fertile fronds persistent through winter