Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Lowland Forest-Clinton's Woodfern


Clinton’s Woodfern

Order: Polypodiales

Family: Dryopterdaceae

Genus: Dryopteris

Species: D. clintoniana

General Characteristics: Clinton's Wood Fern is a large, leathery, bluish-green-colored fern with leaflets that ascend up the stem in a ladder-like formation. The lowest pair of leaflets are each shaped as a broad-based triangle. Fronds are up to 20 cm wide, 90 - 135 cm long, and are "lanceolate", meaning they are lance-shaped with a long, tapered apex and a short, tapered base. The fronds are also deeply "bipinnatifid", meaning that the leaflets and subleaflets (also called "pinnules") are both deeply lobed. The lower stem is 2 - 4 mm thick and covered with numerous darkish 1-cm long scales. The fruit dots along the back of the fertile subleaflets occur in pairs of 3 - 7 and are borne near the mid-vein.

Special Adaptations: The Clinton’s Woodfern thrives in wet soil.

1 comment:

  1. The fruit dots along the back of the fertile subleaflets occur in pairs of 3 - 7 and are borne near the mid-vein.Trees For Sale

    ReplyDelete