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D. wallichiana resources
Descriptive
anecdotal, habit times fouranecdotal, habit times four
Flora
Flora of JapanFlora of Japan
Herbarium
MBG, collected Costa RicaMBG, collected Costa Rica
Monograph
Hoshizaki and WilsonHoshizaki and Wilson
Photo
habithabit
Photo index
inoperativehabitat, habit, croziers, pinnules (link inoperative)
PlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photosPlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photos

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Dryopteris wallichiana (Spreng.) Hyl.
Etymology Named after Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854), British pteridologist
Description Rhizome: erect, massive, bearing several fronds in a whorl, sometimes producing offshoots, scaly.
Frond: 120 cm high by 20 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 3:1 to 4:1.
Stipe: straw-colored or darker, grooved, scales on stipes lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, to 2.5 cm long, acuminate at apex, black or very dark brown in Asian plants, mid-brown in Central America, vascular bundles: 3-7 in a c-shaped pattern.
Blade: 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, oblong-lanceolate, widest near the middle, stiff-papery, green to deep green, paler beneath, similar scales to stipe on rachis.
Pinnae: 20 to 35 pair, sessile; pinnules narrowly oblong, 5--8 mm broad, roundly truncate to round at apex; costae grooved above, continuous from rachis to costae; margins irregularly dentate; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, one medial row at each side of midribs of lobes, indusium: reniform, at a sinus, sporangia: brownish.
Culture Habitat: humus-rich mountain slopes in shade at 1700-3000 m. Distribution: from Mexico to Argentina, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Turkey, east across all of Asia below southern China, Phillippines, Hawaii, i.e., anywhere in the subtropics or tropics with a mountain above 1700 m. Hardy to -25°C, USDA Zone 5.
Distinctive Characteristics distinguished by narrow, dark (see above) scales, rectangular, regularly-spaced, lustrous pinnules, and conspicuous veins on the underside
Synonyms
Aspidium wallichianum Spreng
Dryopteris doiana Tagawa
Dryopteris paleacea (Sw.) C. Chr.
Aspidium parallelogrammum Kunze
Dryopteris filix-mas ssp. parallelogramma (Kunze) H. Christ
Lastrea filix-mas var. paleacea Moore
Nephrodium paleaceum Lowe
Dryopteris wallichiana
Dryopteris wallichiana.  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 wallichiana. In this Hawaian setting one is reminded of Matteuccia.  Photo by Forest & Kim Starr (USGS)
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