Originally found by Mr. J. Trott growing wild near Axminster in Devon in 1863. It was the finding of this cultivar that started an explosion of varieties in the Plumose section of lady ferns. This plant came fairly true to type from spores, but eventually produced a finer form which was named A. felix-femina 'Plumosum Elegans Parsons', which has now sadly been lost. A fertile piece of frond was sent to the Victorian fern expert Charles Druery to look at. He collected spores from it and the result was a surprising one as only 2 plants were like the parent out of the hundred or so other tassel plants. One of these was eventually named Athyrium filix-femina 'Plumosum Superbum Drueryi'