Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
Dryopteris Adans. -- Shield fern
Rather large ferns of moist to wet, wooded habitats; rhizomes stout, scaly. Fronds alike or somewhat dimorphic, the sterile ones sometimes persisting over winter, glabrous, the blades pinnate-pinnatifid to tripinnate, ultimate segments commonly toothed or lobed; veins free, simple to once or twice dichotomous; petioles shorter than the blades, stramineous, bearing membranous scales. Sori round, occurring at regular intervals on the backs of the ultimate segments; indusium reniform, attached at its center in the middle of the sorus.
| Lead | Characteristic | Go To |
| 1 | Blades bipinnate-pinnatifid to nearly tripinnate | D. carthusiana |
| 1 | Blades pinnate-pinnatifid to nearly bipinnate | D. cristata |
- 1. Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.)
H. P. Fuchs -- Spinulose woodfern
- 2. Dryopteris cristata (L.) A. Gray -- Crested fern
Return to Family -- Polypodiaceae - The Polypody Family
Return to Contents
