Dryopteris carthusiana
Encyclopedia
Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P. Fuchs (syn. D. spinulosa (O.F. Muell.) O. Kuntze) is a species of fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

 native to damp forests throughout the Holarctic Kingdom. It is known as the Narrow buckler fern in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and as the Spinulose wood fern in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

It is a tetraploid of hybrid origin, one parent being Dryopteris intermedia
Dryopteris intermedia
Dryopteris intermedia A. Gray, the intermediate wood fern, is an evergreen eastern North American species also occasionally found in Europe. It is a diploid species, and is the parent of several species of hybrid origin, including Dryopteris carthusiana.This fern is often confused with several...

, known in North America as the intermediate wood fern, and an unknown, apparently extinct species dubbed Dryopteris semicristata, which is also the presumed parent of the hybrid-origin Dryopteris cristata
Dryopteris cristata
Dryopteris cristata A. Gray is a species of fern native to wetlands throughout the Holarctic Kingdom. It is known as the crested wood fern...

.

This fern is often confused with several other wood fern species, including D. intermedia, D. campyloptera
Dryopteris campyloptera
Dryopteris campyloptera, also known as the mountain wood fern, is a large American fern of higher elevations and latitudes. It was once known as Dryopteris spinulosa var. Americana. This species also has been referred to as D. austriaca and D. dilatata...

, and D. expansa
Dryopteris expansa
Dryopteris expansa, alpine buckler fern or spreading wood fern, is a species of fern native to cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, south at high altitudes in mountains to Spain and Greece in southern Europe, to Japan in eastern Asia, and to central California in North...

. It especially extensively shares the range of D. intermedia, but the two may be distinguished by the innermost pinnule on the bottom side of the bottom pinna: this pinnule is longer than the adjacent pinnules in D. carthusiana, but shorter or even in D. intermedia. D. carthusiana is a sub-evergreen species, its fronds surviving mild winters but dying back in harsh winters.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK