Etymology From punctum, a spot, + lobus, a lobe. Refers to the spore dots on the lobes.

Description Rhizome: long-creeping, slender, just below the surface, hairs dark reddish brown, jointed.
Frond: 70 cm high by 25 cm wide, deciduous, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 2:1 to 3:1.
Stipe: straw-colored to brown, darker at base, grooved above, pubescent with white, soft, jointed hairs, vascular bundles: 1, in a U-shape.
Blade: 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, lanceolate, lacy, papery, yellow-green, silver-gray, jointed hairs on both surfaces, tipped with white glands.
Pinnae: 10 to 25 pair, broadest at the base; segments ovate to lanceolate, margins serrate-crenate; margins deeply lobed, serrate-crenate; veins free, pinnately branched.
Sori: globose to almost cylindric, marginal at vein tips, indusium: formed by fusion of inner and outer laminar flaps to form a circular, small cup, whitish, at the margin and in from the margin, sporangia: brown, maturity: midsummer.
Dimensionality: pinnae twisted somewhat out of plane of blade, the lowest pair also bending above the plane and towards the base.

Culture Habitat: open or thinly shaded areas . Distribution: eastern and northeastern North America. Hardy to -35°C, USDA Zone 3.

Distinctive Characteristics Sometimes a hay scent when bruised, aggressive, forming colonies, yellow-green color, hairy, yellowing early in fall.

Synonyms
Nephrodium punctilobulum Michaux
Aspidium punctilobulum Sw.