Fiddlehead

Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled <a href="/facts/Frond/msza4qEa">fronds</a> from a fledgling <a href="/facts/Fern/e6Cngdyo">fern</a>, harvested for use as a <a href="/facts/Vegetable/j3AlDG64">vegetable</a>. 
Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new <a href="/facts/Frond/msza4qEa">frond</a> (<a href="/facts/Circinate_vernation/tpd4NQvz">circinate vernation</a>). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the season, before the frond has opened and reached its full height, they are cut fairly close to the ground.
Fiddleheads from <a href="/facts/Bracken/8g9TV4pA">brackens</a> contain <a href="/facts/Ptaquiloside/NgTCtkA0">ptaquiloside</a>, a compound associated with <a href="/facts/Bracken/8g9TV4pA">bracken toxicity</a>, and <a href="/facts/Thiaminase/Ubw8xotL">thiaminase</a>. Not all species contain ptaquiloside, such as <a href="/facts/Diplazium_esculentum/CPV7nMNn">Diplazium esculentum</a>, a fern with fiddleheads regularly consumed in parts of East Asia, which differs from bracken (<a href="/facts/Pteridium_aquilinum/7BIpQEdo">Pteridium aquilinum</a>).
The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a scroll) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a <a href="/facts/Fiddle/nqwqr6kG">fiddle</a>. It is also called a crozier, after the <a href="/facts/Crozier/EEDw9uPe">curved staff</a> used by <a href="/facts/Bishop/n2QGsDWx">bishops</a>, which has its origins in the <a href="/facts/Shepherd%2527s_crook/oVwlBog0">shepherd's crook</a>.

Fiddlehead open-in-new

Fiddlehead