The leaves of Dryopteris cristata are pinnate-pinnatifid, 35-70
cm long, 1/4 or less as wide as long and nearly uniform in width
except where narrowed to the tip. Sterile leaves tend to remain
green over winter, but fertile leaves die at the end of the
growing season. The pinnae of fertile fronds are often twisted
conspicuously, sometimes nearly perpendicular to what would be
considered the normal plane of the blade. Basal pinnae are
broadly triangular. Dryopteris cristata ranges throughout the
northeastern U.S., south to North Carolina, west to northern
Illinois and Minnesota, and then across southern Canada to
eastern British Colombia. It is found throughout Wisconsin,
where it occupies decidedly wet sites in both sunny and somewhat
shaded habitats.