I agree with Claire.

Thanks for the replies. Claire I think you hit it on the head. When I googled it they finally showed a picture from ground level instead of overhead and BINGO! Had never heard of or seen this one before. Thanks so much.

It has a compound that ties up an essential vitamin if eaten , so it typically is not welcome in pastures and shouldn’t be eaten as fiddleheads. Spreads via underground rhizomes.

We have bracken here in the woods in southeast Mass. Sometimes they sneak into the yard - I leave them if they're not encroaching on plants I prefer.

Claire

I like that it coexists fairly well with other plants in my less tended or untended areas. It often grows here with Pennsylvania sedge, low bush blueberry, and wintergreen at the edge of the woods.