Dryopteris

• Authority

  Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

• Family

  Dryopteridaceae

• Scientific Name

  Dryopteris

• Description

  Genus Description - Terrestrial (rarely epiphytic); rhizome stout, erect or ascending, scaly; fronds generally mediumsized, erect or spreading, monomorphic to subdimorphic, not articulate; stipe scaly at base, stramineous to reddish-brown; blade pinnate-pinnatifid to tripinnate, anadromous at base; lamina thin to coriaceous, margin entire to toothed or spinulose, glabrous or glandular or scaly, main axes decurrent onto major ones, making continuous grooves; veins free, ending short of margin; sori abaxial, round, indusia reniform or orbicular-reniform, attached at sinus, thin to coriaceous, glabrous to glandular, paraphyses lacking; spores bilateral, with perispore.

• Discussion

  Type: Dryopteris filixmas (Linnaeus) Schott [=Polypodium filix-mas Linnaeus]. Dryopteris is a genus of about 100 species, largely of temperate regions, with the others mostly occurring in high elevation tropical areas. Most species of it are of southern and eastern Asia, with about 25 of the New World. There are two species complexes in Oaxaca: one of high elevations (including D. wallichiana), the other of low to middle elevations (including D. patula and relatives), both of which need monographic study. Dryopteris is closely allied to Arachniodes but is distinct in its less divided blade and segments lacking mucronate tips. Reference: Christensen, C. 1913. A monograph of the genus Dryopteris. Part I. The tropical American pinnatifid-bipinnatifid species. Kongel. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr., Naturvidensk. Afd. VII, 10: 55-282.