Ferns of the Adirondack Park

The table below contains a listing of fern species based on data from the New York Flora Atlas, which is produced by the New York Flora Association. Nomenclature follows the New York Flora Atlas. The list was created by searching the digital atlas for those fern species present in Warren, Herkimer, Hamilton, Franklin, Essex, and Clinton counties.

The fern list above includes the following families: Aspleniaceae, Athyriaceae, Blechnaceae, Cystopteridaceae,  Dennstaedtiaceae, Diplaziopsidaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Onocleaceae, Ophioglossaceae, Osmundaceae, Polypodiaceae, Pteridaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Woodsiaceae.

The list has the following limitations:

• The New York Flora Atlas is organized by county. The boundaries of the Adirondack Park do not coincide with county boundaries. Only those counties with land area that falls totally or mainly within the Park were searched to create the list above: Warren, Herkimer, Hamilton, Franklin, Essex, and Clinton. Two of these counties – Hamilton and Essex – fall totally within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park. The other four counties (Warren, Herkimer, Franklin, and Clinton) contain areas which fall outside the Park. For that reason, some of fern species on the list may be plants that fall within county boundaries, but outside the Blue Line.
• The fern list above does not include the six counties (Washington, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Fulton, Oneida, and Saratoga) on the periphery of the Park that fall mainly outside Park boundaries. The list may exclude fern species in those counties that occur within the Blue Line.
• The distribution maps in the New York Flora Atlas are based on vouchered specimens only. Some fern species may be present within the Park, but not included in the Atlas because a voucher specimen has never been collected. The current Atlas is considered preliminary and in a draft stage. The list of fern species in the Adirondack region will likely change, as the New York Flora Atlas is revised, improved, and developed.