Taxonomy
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Cobb treats this species as a variety of Spinulose Woodfern, calling it Dryopteris spinulosa (O.F. Mull.) Watt var. intermedia (Muhl.) Underw.
Habitat
Rich woods and swamps.
Associates
Distribution
Newfoundland south to GA, west to MN and AR.
Morphology
Evergreen from short, creeping, more or less ascending or erect rhizomes. Leaves evergreen; petiole and rachis capitate-glandular; petiole 10-30 cm with broad, pale brown scales; blade 10-20 cm wide and 20-50 cm long, broadest just above the base, abruptly tapered to an acuminate tip; bipinnate-pinnatifid to tripinnate-pinnatifid; lowest inferior pinnules of lowest pinnae shorter than the adjacent pinnule (or nearly as long); ultimate segments spinulose-toothed (spine-tipped); outer surface of indusia, and often the lamina and veins, capitate-glandular; sori not marginal, midway between the midvein and the margins of the ultimate segments.
Notes
Spores produced May to December
Wetland indicator: Facultative
Also called Evergreen Woodfern.
References
Cobb, B. 1984. A Field Guide to Ferns and Their Related Families.
Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, NY
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2009 |