Abstract: Hybridization between species might be the big step towards speciation. It has been studied for a very long time but it has not been considered evolutionarily important due to rare examples of hybridization in animal species. Some evolutionary biologists believe that hybridization is just a local event that is evolutionary unimportant. On the other hand, plant biologists argue that hybridization is an important even in plant evolution, since it occurs in 30-80% of all plant species. Our study site is a hybrid zone between the “woodfern” species Dryopteris intermedia and Dryopteris campyloptera. This site is situated next to Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia. The hybridization between D. intermedia (2n) and D. campyloptera (4n) produces sterile hybrids (3n). We wanted to know if these sterile hybrids show less fitness when compared to parental species. To measure fitness we measure vegetative performance and reproductive success. We also measure differences in a three-year-period. We ran ANOVA test with three factors and a covariate. Our results show that there is a significant difference in vegetative performance between all the different taxa. Results also show that there is a significant different in where the ferns are located throughout the field. Proportion spore germination was very high, close to 90%. This results lead to the conclusion that these hybrids are not sterile and are not less fit than parental species. In this hybrid zone all three different taxa can survive together and the hybrids are not just a dead end in evolution. They do not have any disadvantages for being hybrids. They can eventually evolve to become their own species. This can happen if hybrids keep mating with other hybrids and they show characteristics very different from both parental species. In this study hybrids can survive and reproduce in this hybrid zone with no disadvantages at all.