Ostrich-fern, bird's nest, fiddle-heads

This easy-to-grow fern is a popular landscaping plant available from commercial nurseries. In spring, the young shoots (or fiddleheads) are picked in the wild and considered a real delicacy. It is important to identify the plant accurately, however, because it may be confused with two poisonous plants, poison hemlock and water hemlock, both of which have deeply cut leaves. Fiddleheads were an important part of the First Nations diet in eastern Canada at one time.