Flora of North America species comparison

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Dryopteris ludoviciana

Dryopteris marginalis

southern wood fern

dryoptère à sores marginaux, marginal wood fern
Leaves

somewhat dimorphic, green through winter, 35–120 × 10–30 cm.

monomorphic, green through winter, 30–100 × 10–25 cm.
Petiole

more than 1/4 length of leaf, scaly at base;

scales scattered, brown.

1/4–1/3 length of leaf, scaly at base;

scales in dense tuft, pale tawny.
Blade

dark green, lanceolate, pinnate-pinnatifid, herbaceous, not glandular.

bluish green, ovate-lanceolate, pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate at base, leathery, not glandular.
Pinnae

nearly in plane of blade, lance-oblong;

fertile pinnae in distal 1/2 of leaf, distinctly narrower than proximal vegetative pinnae (only in this species);

basal pinnae lanceolate-oblong, much reduced, basal pinnules slightly shorter than adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule slightly longer than basal acroscopic pinnule;

pinnule margins distantly serrate.

± in plane of blade, lanceolate;

basal pinnae lanceolate, slightly reduced, basal pinnules longer than adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule longer than basal acroscopic pinnule;

pinnule margins shallowly crenate to nearly entire.
Indusia

lacking glands.

lacking glands.
Sori

midway between midvein and margin of segments.

near margin of segments.
2n

= 82.

= 82.

Dryopteris ludoviciana

Dryopteris marginalis
Habitat Swamps and wet woods Rocky, wooded slopes and ravines, edges of woods, stream banks and roadbanks, and rock walls
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 50–1500 m (200–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Greenland
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Dryopteris ludoviciana is endemic to southeastern United States. This diploid is one of the parents of D. celsa and D. cristata. It crosses with D. celsa to produce sterile hybrids.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Dryopteris marginalis is an eastern North America endemic. Even though this species hybridizes with 10 other species, and some of these hybrids are fairly common, D. marginalis is not known to be involved in the formation of any fertile polyploid. Hybrids can be detected by malformed spores and the nearly marginal sorus position.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Dryopteris Dryopteridaceae > Dryopteris
Sibling taxa
D. arguta, D. campyloptera, D. carthusiana, D. celsa, D. cinnamomea, D. clintoniana, D. cristata, D. expansa, D. filix-mas, D. fragrans, D. goldieana, D. intermedia, D. marginalis
D. arguta, D. campyloptera, D. carthusiana, D. celsa, D. cinnamomea, D. clintoniana, D. cristata, D. expansa, D. filix-mas, D. fragrans, D. goldieana, D. intermedia, D. ludoviciana
Synonyms Aspidium ludovicianum, D. floridana Polypodium marginale
Name authority (Kunze) Small: Ferns S. E. States 281. (1938) (Linnaeus) A. Gray: Manual 632. (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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