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D. marginalis resources
Descriptive
Connecticut Botanical SocietyConnecticut Botanical Society
Ferns of the NorthwoodsFerns of the Northwoods
Flore laurentienneFlore laurentienne
sori close-upsori close-up
Drawing
as Aspidium marginaleas Aspidium marginale
Flora
Flora of North AmericaFlora of North America
Monograph
Hoshizaki and WilsonHoshizaki and Wilson
Photo
fertile pinnafertile pinna
scales, base of stipescales, base of stipe
Photo index
PlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photosPlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photos

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Dryopteris marginalis (Linnaeus) A. Gray

Marginal wood fern

Etymology Marginalis means margined, referring to the position of the sori.
Description Rhizome: erect, soft, brown, chaffy scales.
Frond: 70 cm high by 20 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 2:1 to 3:1.
Stipe: grooved, reddish brown at swollen base, becoming brownish green above, scaly at base; scales in dense tuft, pale tawny, vascular bundles: 7 in a c-shaped arc, sometimes fewer at the stipe apex.
Blade: 2-pinnate, ovate-lanceolate, leathery, deep green to felty blue-green, linear to ovate scales below, absent above.
Pinnae: 12 to 16 pair, in plane of blade, lanceolate; basal pinnae slightly reduced; pinnules basal pinnules longer than adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule longer than basal acroscopic pinnule; costae grooved above, continuous from rachis to costae; margins shallowly crenate to nearly entire; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, in 1 row near the margin on the top two-thirds of the blade, indusium: reniform, silvery, attached at a sinus, sporangia: lead gray, then maturing to dark brown, maturity: midsummer.
Culture Habitat: rocky, wooded slopes and ravines, edges of woods, stream banks and roadbanks, and rock walls . Distribution: eastern North America, southern tip of Greenland. Hardy to -40°C, USDA Zone 2.
Distinctive Characteristics sori neatly arranged along the margins
Synonyms
Polypodium marginale L.
Aspidium filix-mas var. marginale Chr.
Filix-Mas marginalis Farwell
Lastrea marginalis Presl
Nephrodium marginale Michx.
Polystichum marginale Keys.
Thelypteris marginalis Nieuwl.
Dryopteris marginalis
Dryopteris marginalis.  Illustration from The Cultivated Species of the Fern Genus Dryopteris in the United States, Barbara Joe Hoshizaki and Kenneth A. Wilson, American Fern Journal, 89, 1, (1999), with permission.
Dryopteris marginalis
Dryopteris marginalis. Seven vascular bundles at the stipe base, the same or fewer at the top of the stipe.  Drawing from Ferns of Northeastern United States, Farida A. Wiley, 1936.
Dryopteris marginalis
Dryopteris marginalis. Fertile pinna, mid-blade, early August. Click through for details. Sori are marginal except when the margin is incised: position is at base of sinus.  Scan: Tom Stuart
Dryopteris marginalis
Dryopteris marginalis. a) fronds, fertile on upper portion; b) pinnule with marginal sori .  Illustration by V. Fulford from Ferns and Fern Allies of Canada, William J. Cody and Donald M. Britton, 1989, © Agriculture Canada, used with permission.
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