Dryopteris marginalis

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Dryopteris marginalis
Dryopteris marginalis0.jpg
Dryopteris marginalis growing in Bucks County Pennsylvania
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Polypodiineae
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Genus: Dryopteris
Species:
D. marginalis
Binomial name
Dryopteris marginalis
DRMA4.png
Range within North America
Synonyms [2]
  • Aspidium marginale(L.) Sw.
  • Nephrodium marginale(L.) Michx.
  • Polypodium marginaleL.

Dryopteris marginalis, vernacularly known as the marginal shield fern or marginal wood fern, is a perennial species of fern found in damp shady areas throughout eastern North America, from Texas to Minnesota and Newfoundland. It favors moderately acid to circumneutral soils in cooler areas but is fairly drought-resistant once established. In the warmer parts of its range, it is most likely to be found on north-facing non-calcareous rock faces. It is common in many altitudes throughout its range, from high ledges to rocky slopes and stream banks. [3] Marginal wood fern's name derives from the fact that the sori are located on the margins, or edges of the leaflets.

Contents

Description

Dryopteris marginalis showing unripe sori placement on the edges of the leaves Dryopteris marginalis3.jpg
Dryopteris marginalis showing unripe sori placement on the edges of the leaves

Dryopteris marginalis is an evergreen fern throughout its range, along with Christmas fern ( Polystichum acrostichoides ) it is one of the few evergreen ferns. Marginal wood fern grows from a clump with a prominent central rootstock, this rootstock may be exposed and give this fern the appearance of being like a small tree fern. Often, the dead leaves will accumulate beneath the plant. The stipe, or stem which supports the leaf is approximately 1/4 the length of the leaf and covered in bright golden brown scales. [3] The stipe itself is grooved on the upward-facing side and dark red-brown at the base and becoming green further up the leaf. [4]

The leaf is a dark blue-green and thick and leathery in texture. [3] It grows 1–2 ft in height and approximately 6 in wide. Each leaf is broken up into leaflets which are arranged on either side of the main stalk. The tips of these leaflets are generally curved toward the tip of the leaf. These leaflets themselves are divided into subleaflets which are blunt-tipped and either serrated or lobed. The fertile leaflets (leaflets bearing sori and spores) are similar to the fertile leaflets in size and appearance. [5] The round sori are located on the margins of the leaf tissue. Before the sori are ripe they start gray then they turn an interesting blue-violet color before finally turning brown when they are mature. The sori are covered in a kidney-shaped indusium which is smooth. [4]

Distribution and habitat

Dryopteris marginalis has a wide distribution in the northeastern US. It was found for the first time in Minnesota in 1981, and likely was part of the native flora for a long time but overlooked because of its rarity and its close resemblance to related species. [6] It is listed as a threatened species in Minnesota, not so much because the species is currently threatened, but because there is only one population found on an east-facing bluff composed of sandstone that is capped with limestone. [6] In other parts of its range it is found in woods, on talus-slopes, in rocky areas and walls, on wooded slopes and ravines, and at the edges of woods, streams and roads. [5]

Cultivation

Dryopteris marginalis is grown in gardens in part to full shade, it is an evergreen non-spreading fern that forms a vase-shaped clump of leathery, deeply cut fronds. It is used in shade gardens, rock gardens, and native plantings. There are no serious insect or disease problems that affect it and it is winter hardy in USDA zones 3–8. [7]

Dryopteris marginalis is known to form hybrids with 10 other species and some of the hybrids are common, they can be identified by the malformed spores and sori which are not quite on the margins of the leaves.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gymnocarpium dryopteris</i> Species of fern

Gymnocarpium dryopteris, the western oakfern, common oak fern, oak fern, or northern oak fern, is a deciduous fern of the family Cystopteridaceae. It is widespread across much of North America and Eurasia. It has been found in Canada, the United States, Greenland, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, and most of Europe. It is a seedless, vascular plant that reproduces via spores and have a life cycle with alternating, free-living sporophyte and gametophyte phases.

<i>Dryopteris erythrosora</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris erythrosora, the autumn fern or Japanese shield fern, is a species of fern in the family Dryopteridaceae, native to east Asia from China and Japan south to the Philippines, growing in light woodland shade on low mountains or hills.

<i>Polystichum acrostichoides</i> Species of fern

Polystichum acrostichoides, commonly denominated Christmas fern, is a perennial, evergreen fern native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and south to Florida and eastern Texas. It is one of the most common ferns in eastern North America, being found in moist and shady habitats in woodlands, stream banks and rocky slopes. The common name derives from the evergreen fronds, which are often still green at Christmas.

<i>Dryopteris arguta</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris arguta, with the common name coastal woodfern, is a species of wood fern. It is native to the west coast and western interior mountain ranges of North America, from British Columbia, throughout California, and into Arizona.

<i>Asplenium rhizophyllum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium rhizophyllum, the (American) walking fern, is a frequently-occurring fern native to North America. It is a close relative of Asplenium ruprechtii which is found in East Asia and also goes by the common name of "walking fern".

<i>Dryopteris carthusiana</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris carthusiana is a perennial species of fern native to damp forests throughout the Holarctic Kingdom. It is known as the narrow buckler-fern in the United Kingdom, and as the spinulose woodfern in North America.

<i>Dryopteris cristata</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris cristata is a perennial species of fern native to wetlands throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is known as crested wood fern, crested buckler-fern or crested shieldfern. This plant is a tetraploid species of hybrid origin, one parent being Dryopteris ludoviciana and the other being the unknown, apparently extinct species, dubbed Dryopteris semicristata, which is also one of the presumed parents of Dryopteris carthusiana. D. cristata in turn is one of the parents of Dryopteris clintoniana, another fern of hybrid origin.

<i>Dryopteris goldieana</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris goldieana, commonly called Goldie's wood fern, or giant wood fern is a fern native to the eastern United States and adjacent areas of Canada, from New Brunswick to Ontario and Georgia. It is the largest native North American species of Dryopteris and along with ostrich fern it is one of the largest ferns in eastern North America. Specimens are known with fronds six feet tall. D. goldieana hybridizes with many other species of Dryopteris and the hybrids tend to be larger than the pure species. It was named by William Hooker in honor of its discoverer, John Goldie. The epithet was originally published as goldiana, but this is regarded as a misspelling to be corrected.

<i>Asplenium septentrionale</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium septentrionale is a species of fern known by the common names northern spleenwort and forked spleenwort. It is native to Europe, Asia and western North America, where it grows on rocks. Its long, slender leaves give it a distinctive appearance. Three subspecies exist, corresponding to a tetraploid and a diploid cytotype and their triploid hybrid.

<i>Dryopteris intermedia</i> Species of wood fern

Dryopteris intermedia, the intermediate wood fern or evergreen wood fern, is a perennial, evergreen wood fern native to eastern North America. It is a diploid species, and is the parent of several species of hybrid origin, including Dryopteris carthusiana. Other common names for this species include intermediate shield fern, fancy wood fern, fancy fern, glandular wood fern, American shield fern and common wood fern.

<i>Parablechnum wattsii</i> Species of plant

Parablechnum wattsii, synonym Blechnum wattsii, is a common terrestrial fern growing in rainforest and open forest. It is often seen near creeks in much of south eastern Australia, including Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. The specific epithet wattsii honours William Walter Watts (1856-1920). Watts was considered an authority on mosses and ferns and has more than 30 species named for him. Common names by which the species may be called are hard water fern - from its stiff leathery fronds, leech fern - as forest workers often encounter leaches while working in clusters of these ferns, hard hill fern - from the fern's habit and habitat, and red cabbage fern - from the bronze-pink colour of the young fronds resembling cooked red cabbage.

<i>Deparia acrostichoides</i> Species of fern

Deparia acrostichoides, commonly called silvery glade fern or silvery spleenwort, is a perennial species of fern. Its range includes much of the eastern United States and Canada, from Ontario to Nova Scotia and Georgia to Louisiana, as well as eastern Asia in China, Russia, Japan and Korea. The name silvery comes from the fact that the indusia on the underside of the leaf have a silver color when the sori are close to ripening.

<i>Dryopteris macropholis</i> Species of fern

Dryopteris macropholis is a species of fern. It is distributed on the Marquesas Islands.

<i>Asplenium <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> ebenoides</i> Hybrid fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium × ebenoides is a hybrid fern native to eastern North America, part of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex" of related hybrids. The sterile offspring of the walking fern (A. rhizophyllum) and the ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron), A. × ebenoides is intermediate in morphology between its two parents, combining the long, narrow blade of A. rhizophyllum with a dark stem and lobes or pinnae similar to those of A. platyneuron. While A. × ebenoides is generally sterile, fertile specimens with double the number of chromosomes are known from Havana Glen, Alabama. These fertile allotetraploids were reclassified as a separate species named A. tutwilerae in 2007, retaining the name A. × ebenoides for the sterile diploids only.

<i>Polystichum tsus-simense</i> Species of fern

Polystichum tsus-simense, commonly known as the Korean rock fern, is a perennial herbaceous plant native to East Asia. Its common name corresponds with its ability to grow in shady areas of rock walls. This fern species is a familiar ornamental plant grown in home gardens.

<i>Asplenium resiliens</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium resiliens, the blackstem spleenwort or little ebony spleenwort, is a species of fern native to the Western Hemisphere, ranging from the southern United States south to Uruguay, including parts of the Caribbean. Found on limestone substrates, it is named for its distinctive purplish-black stipe and rachis. A triploid, it is incapable of sexual reproduction and produces spores apogamously. First described by Martens and Galeotti in 1842 under the previously used name Asplenium parvulum, the species was given its current, valid name by Kunze in 1844. Several similar species are known from the tropics; A. resiliens may have arisen from these species by reticulate evolution, but precise relationships among the group are not yet certain.

<i>Asplenium tutwilerae</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium tutwilerae is a rare epipetric fern found only in Hale County, Alabama, United States. A. tutwilerae is a fertile allotetraploid, formed by the chromosomal doubling of a specimen of the sterile diploid A. × ebenoides, a hybrid of A. platyneuron and A. rhizophyllum. Except for its spores, which are fertile rather than malformed, A. tutwilerae is essentially identical to A. × ebenoides and was described as part of that species until 2007. It is named in honor of Julia Tutwiler, who discovered the only known wild population at Havana Glen in 1873.

<i>Asplenium appendiculatum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium appendiculatum, ground spleenwort, is a common native fern to Australia and New Zealand. It usually grows in cool damp conditions, among rocks, on logs or as an epiphyte.

Baja is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Cheilanthoideae of the family Pteridaceae with a single species Baja brandegeei, synonym Cheilanthes brandegeei. The species is native to Baja California including the offshore Cedros Island, Mexico.

Anemia tabascana is a fern endemic to the state of Tabasco, Mexico. It grows on road banks on a single hill in Huimanguillo. Like other members of the genus, its leaves are pinnately divided into a single set of leaflets; in fertile leaves, the lowest pair of leaflets projects at right angles to the rest of the leaf and bears spores. The freely forking veins, which do not rejoin one another after forking, and sparse, rather than abundant, hairs on the leaf axes, distinguish it from similar species in the genus.

References

  1. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 - Dryopteris marginalis Marginal Woodfern". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. "Dryopteris marginalis (L.) A. Gray". www.worldfloraonline.org. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  3. 1 2 3 Rhoads, Ann; Block, Timothy (5 September 2007). The Plants of Pennsylvania (2 ed.). Philadelphia Pa: University of Pennsylvania press. ISBN   978-0-8122-4003-0.
  4. 1 2 Foster, Boughten Cobb ; illustrations by Laura Louise (1987). A field guide to ferns : and their related families : Northeastern and Central North America : with a section on species also found in the British Isles and Western Europe ([New ed., pbk. ed.]. ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN   0-395-19431-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 "Taxon Page". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 Barbara Coffin; Lee Pfannmuller (1988). Minnesota's Endangered Flora and Fauna. U of Minnesota Press. p. 89. ISBN   978-0-8166-1689-3.
  7. "Dryopteris marginalis - Plant Finder". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 2020-12-16.