The genus Phegopteris encompasses a small group of deciduous ferns native across the Northern Hemisphere — North America, Europe, and Asia — belonging to the marsh fern family (Thelypteridaceae). They share a set of reliable characteristics: triangular frond blades whose lowest pairs of leaflets angle sharply downward, sori positioned near the pinna margins, and the unusual absence of an indusium covering those spore clusters. That last detail is one of the quickest ways to place them in the field.

In the garden, beech ferns ask for the same conditions they occupy in the wild: moist, organically rich, well-drained, acidic soil in part to full shade. They are low-maintenance once established, scaling two to four feet in favorable conditions and performing reliably as understory accent plants beneath deciduous trees. Propagation is straightforward by rhizome division. Deer generally leave them alone, making them useful in woodland gardens where browsing pressure is high.