I think it is too delicat for fern

it reminds me rather of Achillea or Filipendulina, not sure whether you get those in your area. Did you check for flower stalks?

an old school botanist showd me (escpecially with grasses) that you close your hand loosly around the the leaves at the base and run the hand upwards, it there are any old stalks attached you will find them

I agree. It's not a fern. Looks like Achillea millefolium to me. Yarrow. The basal rosette is evergreen and would be visible all year round.

There is a lot of Achillea millefolium present in this meadow but I have never seen the foliage looking like this. However, a photo from this page does seem to confirm that it is A. millefolium: https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/achillea/millefolium/

I am guessing that this might be the pre-blooming stage of growth, before the plant forms a flower stalk. It is listed as a perennial, so maybe it persists through the winter in this state and forms a flower stalk in the spring.

No, I didn't check for a flower stalk as you described but would have expected to see a seed head this time of year, still upright, and obvious. That's why I was confused. Thanks for the advice.

A millefolium is very hardy and is definitely perennial. I'm sure it will persist through the winter.

I just learned that achillea millefolium can thrive but not bloom in even partial shade, solving a mystery for me.

Achillea gracilis. It was lumped into the Achillea millefolium complex since the time of Linaeus. The leaflets are 3 dimentional , Achillea millefolium leaflets are in a flat plane.

They split Achillea gracilis a few years ago, but the internet is still loaded with false informaion and photos, depicting it as Achillea millefolium. Achillea gracilis is our native eastern yarrow. The similar looking yarrow species of western NA, that were formerly millefolium, have also been reclassified as Achillea borialis and a couple other species.

Yes, interesting and confusing. Most sites seem to call A. gracilis a synonym of A. millefolium but I did see a few that report just the opposite, A. millefolium as a synonym of A. gracilis.

worldfloraonline.org reports:

"This name is currently unchecked and awaiting taxonomic scrutiny

The record derives from TICA (data supplied on 2022-04-20) which reports it as a Unchecked name"

and:

"This name is a synonym of Achillea millefolium L. by Asteraceae.

The record derives from TICA (data supplied on 2022-04-20) which reports it as a synonym of Achillea millefolium L."

local side note regarding the specimen submitted here:

These plants are all, most likely, part of a restoration project in this local park that reclaimed abandoned farm land. The planting/seeding did intend to re-introduce native species but just which actual species were planted/sown, is anyones guess. There is even the possibility that some species of Achillea were originally growing here, and continued to survive, after this meadow area was "reclaimed". So, there may be a mix of original and introduced species.

Synonyms are different names for the same species, but gracilis and millefolium are clearly 2 different species. Only synonyms in the sense that they both shared the same name for eons. The revision making it gracilis is important to seperate our native yarrow from the old world millefolium. People have been confused for centuries as to whether there is a native yarrow, or are they all non-native and naturalized? I find it hard to believe that Linnaeus and his apostles didn't treat them as different species back then. Technically Achillea gracilis is entered in nonmenclature as Achillea millefolium var. borealis. It was called Achillea borealis for a short time. Alan Weakley calls it gracilis, so it seems it will be entered into nonmenclature as gracilis. Gracilis is an old name given by Rafinesque.