Flora of North America species comparison

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Dryopteris marginalis

Dryopteris filix-mas

dryoptère à sores marginaux, marginal wood fern

dryoptère fougère mâle, male fern, male wood fern
Leaves

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

monomorphic, dying back in winter, 28–120 × 10–30 cm.
Petiole

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

scales in dense tuft, pale tawny.

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

scales scattered, brown, of 2 distinct kinds, 1 broad, 1 hairlike (only this species has 2 distinct forms of scales without intermediates).
Blade

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

green, ovate-lanceolate, pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate at base, firm but not 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.

± in plane of blade, lanceolate;

basal pinnae ovate-lanceolate, much reduced, basal pinnules or segments ± same length as adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule and basal acroscopic pinnule equal;

pinnule margins serrate to lobed.
Indusia

lacking glands.

lacking glands.
Sori

near margin of segments.

midway between midvein and margin of segments.
2n

= 82.

= 164.

Dryopteris marginalis

Dryopteris filix-mas
Habitat Rocky, wooded slopes and ravines, edges of woods, stream banks and roadbanks, and rock walls Dense woods and talus slopes on limestone (ne North America), open woods among boulders and talus of granite or igneous rock (Rocky Mountains)
Elevation 50–1500 m (200–4900 ft) 200–2500 m (700–8200 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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MI; MT; NM; NV; OK; OR; TX; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; SK; Greenland; Europe; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

The taxonomy of Dryopteris filix-mas is not well understood. In North America, this fern has been considered both an auto- and an allopolyploid and may be composed of at least two closely related taxa. Plants in the northeast and northwest are tetraploid. These differ morphologically and ecologically from a taxon of unknown chromosome number in the southwestern Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountain taxon closely resembles the Mexican D. pseudofilix-mas (Fée) Rothmaler. Dryopteris filix-mas also occurs in Europe, and it is known to be an allopolyploid of D. caucasica (A. Braun) Fraser-Jenkins & Corley × oreades Fomin.

(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. ludoviciana
D. arguta, D. campyloptera, D. carthusiana, D. celsa, D. cinnamomea, D. clintoniana, D. cristata, D. expansa, D. fragrans, D. goldieana, D. intermedia, D. ludoviciana, D. marginalis
Synonyms Polypodium marginale Polypodium filix-mas
Name authority (Linnaeus) A. Gray: Manual 632. (1848) (Linnaeus) Schott: Gen. Fil. plate 67. (1834)
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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