Dryopteris cristata (L.) A. Gray is a species of fern native to wetlands throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is known as crested wood fern or crested buckler-fern. This plant is a tetraploid species of hybrid origin, one parent being Dryopteris ludoviciana and the other being the unknown, apparently extinct species, dubbed Dryopteris semicristata, which is also one of the presumed parents of Dryopteris carthusiana. D. cristata in turn is one of the parents of Dryopteris clintoniana, another fern of hybrid origin.