GOLD FERN, a handsome American fern (Gymnogramma triangularis or Pityriogramma triangularis), native to the Pacific coast region from British Columbia south to Ecuador, so called because the leaves (fronds) are coated beneath with a bright orange-coloured powder, varying to white. The dark-brown, glossy leaf-stalks (stipes), 6 in. to 12 in. high, rise from the rootstock in dense tufts, and bear triangular-shaped, somewhat leathery leaves 3 in. to 4 in. long and broad, more or less deeply cut into rounded leaflets or lobes. A tropical American species, G. chrysophyllum, popular in greenhouse cultivation, with golden yellow powder on the under surface of the fronds, is also called gold fern.