Some ferns were used as food or medicine. The sword fern is very abundant in the Quinault Rainforest. As you can see from the picture, they grow in clumps or patches. The stem of the sword fern can be 6 feet long. This fern stays green all year and is picked commercially to be used in floral displays.
Elk eat the tips of the leaves.
Tribes such as the Quileute, Quinault, Chehalis, and Cowlitz used the leaves to bake camas, wapatoo, and other roots. The leaves were used to cover berry drying racks because the drying fruit doesn't stick to them. The Quileute and Cowlitz also used the leaves to make a mattress. The Thompson Indians of southern British Columbia ate the rootstock and used the fronds to line steaming pits for cooking other root foods. The Nootka rubbed the fern on their hands to bring luck in whaling.