Flora of North America species comparison

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Dryopteris cristata

crested wood fern, dryoptère à crêtes, shield fern
Leaves

dimorphic, 35–70 × 8–12 cm;

fertile leaves dying back in winter;

sterile leaves several, small, green through winter, forming "rosette." Petiole 1/4–1/3 length of leaf, scaly at least at base;

scales scattered, tan.
Blade

green, narrowly lanceolate or with parallel sides, pinnate-pinnatifid, not glandular.
Pinnae

of fertile leaves twisted out of plane of blade and perpendicular to it, deltate;

basal pinnae deltate, somewhat reduced, basal pinnules longer than adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule and basal acroscopic pinnule equal;

pinnule margins distantly serrate, with spiny teeth.
Indusia

lacking glands.
Sori

midway between midvein and margin of segments.
2n

= 164.

Dryopteris cristata
Habitat Swamps, swampy woods, or open shrubby wetlands
Elevation 0–1200 m (0–3900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Dryopteris cristata is believed to be an allotetraploid derived from D. ludoviciana and an unknown diploid called " D. semicristata " by W. H. Wagner Jr. (1971). This ancestral taxon could have been either North American or Eurasian and may have become extinct during the last glaciation (T. J. Carlson and W. H. Wagner Jr. 1982). Dryopteris cristata hybridizes with five species; these hybrids can be identified by the narrow blades and deltate proximal pinnae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Dryopteris
Sibling taxa
D. arguta, D. campyloptera, D. carthusiana, D. celsa, D. cinnamomea, D. clintoniana, D. expansa, D. filix-mas, D. fragrans, D. goldieana, D. intermedia, D. ludoviciana, D. marginalis
Synonyms Polypodium cristatum
Name authority (Linnaeus) A. Gray: Manual 631. (1848)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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