The shield ferns give interesting structure and colour in cool places throughout the summer. The pinnate fronds emerge in spring, and may have bronze or even pinkish colours at first, usually becoming darkish green. The details of the frond structure differ with the variety, and there are some remarkable cultivated forms.

Dryopteris erythrosora is the Japanese shield fern, deciduous or semi-evergreen, making a conical clump of fronds that are coppery pink when they first emerge, then becoming light green.