As you can see from the image in this link, the fruiting stalk has bead-like sori that ripen in midwinter. If you bring them into a heated room, they will shed their spore quickly. Spore need to be sown as soon as possible after they shed, as they have a short viability. It can be invasive in a small garden, but if you have a bit of damp ground and some room, it is well worth growing. It prefers shade to semi-shade, but will tolerate sun if the ground is sufficiently wet.
Propagation is by spring division of the rhizomes or by spore.
This species is reported to be poisonous to livestock and rarely, if ever, eaten by deer. My deer herd has never touched a fern of any type in my garden, and I grow several besides these native ones. Something to keep in mind if you're troubled by bambi. There are no cultivars, but there is a form in cultivation that has red fronds in the spring - rare, but worth finding, says Rickard, who has also obtained a dwarf form that may prove stable. If you're fairly new to ferns, be sure to visit the The American Fern Society web site.