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dryoptère à sores marginaux, marginal wood fern

Leaves

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

Petiole

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

scales in dense tuft, pale tawny.

Blade

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

Pinnae

± 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.

Sori

near margin of segments.

2n

= 82.

Dryopteris marginalis

Habitat Rocky, wooded slopes and ravines, edges of woods, stream banks and roadbanks, and rock walls
Elevation 50–1500 m (200–4900 ft)
Distribution
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
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Discussion

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.
Parent taxa 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. ludoviciana
Synonyms Polypodium marginale
Name authority (Linnaeus) A. Gray: Manual 632. (1848)
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