They are the spores (seeds) of the fern. Quite normal and nothing to fret about.

Thank you so much,Bulba..that will be such a relief to her..she isn't familiar with ferns..and obviously,neither am I ...nice to hear all is well :o)

I wonder if its the light colour thats thrown you, as they are often darker Bloomer.

They will get darker as they ripen, Drc.

Maybe,Denise,but I know nothing about ferns anyway...at first I thought it was a Polemonium," Jacob's ladder" till I read the label properly.,as all I saw was the ferny foliage..!.and thanks again,Bulba..now I have enough info,I will contact my friend :o)

If one was going to be pedantic about it, then those are actually' sporangia'. They are the bodies in which the spores are formed rather than the spores themselves. They turn brown when they burst open to release the spores.

What's a bit of pedanticism (new word) amongst friends ;-)
That's something else to try to remember.

If one gets into the world of ferns there are lots of new words to learn. Like 'rachis' for instance and pinna and pinnules. How about this for a leaf description. "bipinnate segment, pinnules pinnatified."
There are a lot more too.