Taxonomy
Family: Thelypteridaceae
Synonymous with Thelypteris hexagonoptera (Michx.) Weatherby
Habitat
Moist to somewhat dry woods and thickets.
Associates
Distribution
Quebec and ME to Ontario and MN, south to northern FL and TX.
Morphology
Leaves deciduous, to 80 cm, scattered on long, slender, sparingly hairy and densely scaly rhizomes. Leaf blades to 40 cm, mostly a little wider than long, bipinnatifid, the lowest pair of pinnae enlarges and widely spreading; rachis winged throughout; pinnar to 7 cm wide; veins simple or sometimes a few forked; scales of rachis few, whitish, lance-triangular.
Notes
Spores produced late summer
Wetland indicator: Upland
Phegopteris connectilis (Long Beech Fern) is similar but more slender and its rachis is not herbaceous-winged between the two lowest pairs of pinnae.
References
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
Michael Hough © 2018 |