English: Scaly male fern; Golden-scaled male fern.
Region: western and southern Europe, British Isles, western France, Mediterranea and Caucasus at high altitudes, southwestern Asia.
Habitat: moist soils, in woodlands, high humidity.

BotanyFern; evergreen.
Leaves: light green; moderately stiff; hard-textured; rachis at the base of the frond densely covered in yellow-brown scales; 60 to 160 cm long; bipinnate; pinnae up to 8 to 18 cm long; pinnules broad, rectangular with the margin most toothed close to the pinna tip; blackish spot at the base of the pinna.

DD: more robust habit, more evergreen fronds, more densely scaly frond stems, more rectangular pinnae and pinnules a the closely related Dryopteris filix-mas.