Adiantum Woods State Natural Area

Adiantum Woods features a rich, dry-mesic forest situated on a steep north-facing slope that rises from the south bank of the Wisconsin River. The canopy is composed of white and red oak, basswood, yellowbud hickory, black cherry, sugar maple, and big tooth aspen. Eastern hop-hornbean and ironwood are present in the subcanopy. The shrub layer consists of witchhazel, gray dogwood, ninebark, hazelnut, and poison ivy. The understory is rich in herbaceous species with lopseed, tick-trefoil, bloodroot, sweet cicely, maidenhair, interrupted, and rattlesnake ferns, yellow lady's slipper, showy orchis, wild sarsaparilla, red and white baneberry, and poke milkweed. Limestone outcrops near the top of the slope harbor populations of smooth cliff brake, bulblet bladder fern, and slender lip fern. Moving upslope, a transition or continuum of vegetation is evident as the forest community shifts from mesic to dry-mesic and finally to dry forest. Adiantum Woods is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1991.