| Scientific Name: | Gymnocarpium dryopteris |
| Common Name: | oak fern |
| Family Name: | Cystopteridaceae |
| Origin: | Canada - northern, Europe, U.S. - northeast, U.S. - northwest |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 2: (-46 to -40 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Fern |
| Mature Size: | 0.2 - 0.4m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Arching, Upright |
| Form: | Creeping / Mat-like, Oval - horizontal |
| Texture: | Medium - fine |
| Landscape Uses: | Alpine, Aquatic - ponds, Container planting, Ground cover, Group or mass planting, Mixed shrub border, Small garden/space, Woodland margin |
| Exposure: | Part sun/part shade, Filtered shade, Deep shade |
| Soil or Media: | Humus rich, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Compound, Fern-like, Basal, Soft flexible, Glabrous, Tripinnate, Deltoid, Crenate |
| Flowers: | |
| Fruit: | Sporangium (spores), Green-yellow, Jul-Aug-Sep |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves tri-pinnately compound, triangle-shaped, yellow-green/turns dark green; sub-leaflets oblong when young/lobed when mature; sporangia tiny clusters along underside of pinnule margins, rust-brown, Jul-Sep. | |