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Dryopteris carthusiana

Common Name: Spinulose Wood Fern
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Genus: Dryopteris
Species: Dryopteris carthusiana

Conservation Status

Identifying Features

The spinulose wood fern fronds are green, 12-28" long, and divided three times. Their leaflets are toothed with up to 18 pairs. The lowest inner leaflets are longer than others.

Fronds have tan scaly stalks.

Habitat & Range

These ferns are found in moist forests throughout the US, Canada, and Europe.

Life Cycle

The sori are rounded in rows on the underside of leaflets.

Featured image by James Dake.

Related

Polystichum acrostichoides
Christmas Fern
Thelypteris noveboracensis
New York Fern
noclea sensibilis
Sensitive Fern