[8] The plant was first identified as a separate species from specimens collected in Scotland in Bolton's 1785 publication Filices Britannica.

[7] The genus Woodsia was established in 1810 by Robert Brown, who named it after the English botanist Joseph Woods.

[6] Its UK distribution is confined to Angus and the Moffat Hills in Scotland, north Wales and Teesdale and the Lake District in England.

[11] Oblong woodsia came under severe threat from Victorian fern collectors in the mid 19th century in Scotland, especially in the Moffat Hills.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh plan to use cultivated specimens and a spore bank to restore depleted wild populations.