[1] It is often abundant (one of the more common ferns) in damp, shady woodland environments and is often grown for decoration.

Athyrium filix-femina is cespitose (the fronds arising from a central point as a clump rather than along a rhizome).

'[6] In Finland as a native plant, A. filix-femina is at its most abundant in inland lake areas but grows commonly in almost the whole country, excluding Lapland where it is rare.

The plant prefers especially mesotrophic eutrophic paludified hardwood-spruce forest (lehtokorpi in Finnish).

Even though the plant gets easily frostbitten and therefore does not like open areas, it can still be found often also in ditches near roads and fields.