Name: |
- Phegopteris, from the Greek, fhgos
(phegos), "beech", and pteris
(pteris), "fern"
- connectilis, from the Latin, conecto, "to tie, bind, fasten,
or join together; to connect or link together"
- Common Name, from the Greek generic name. Beech does not grow in
the North Country.
- Other common names include Narrow Beech Fern, Northern Beech Fern, Marsh
Fern, Phégoptéris Vulgaire, Phégoptère à
Segments Joint, Fougère du Hêtre (Qué), Hultbräken
(Swe), Hengjeveng (Nor), Skov-Dunbregne (Dan), Korpi-imarre
(Fin), Þríhyrnuburkni (Is), Buchenfarn (Ger),
Buglyospáfrány (Hun)
|
Taxonomy: |
- Kingdom Plantae, the Plants
- Division Polypodiophyta, the True Ferns
- Taxonomic Serial Number: 504295
- Also known as Dryopteris phegopteris, Lastrea phegopteris, Phegopteris
polypodioides, Polypodium connectile, Polypodium phegopteris, Thelypteris
phegopteris
|
Description: |
- A smaller, light green fern of cool, moist places.
- Fronds monomorphic, deciduous, and solitary from creeping
rhizome; leans backward; 4"-20" tall.
- Petiole (leaf stalk) straw-colored, 6"-14",
with light brown scales.
- Blade narrowly to broadly triangular; usually somewhat
longer (4"-10") than wide and tapering rapidly to narrow
tip. Lowest pair of leaflets somewhat more widely spaced from
the rest, and typically drooping down and out.
- Rachis (axis) winged except for lowest pair
of pinnae.
- Pinnae nearly opposite and sessile (lacking stems), deeply
cut but not all the way to the stem, with smooth edges.
- Rootstalk long-creeping, slender, and branching.
- Roots black, wiry, and branching; often quite numerous
and growing deep into the soil.
- Sori small, on underside of leaflet near edges;
lacking indusium.
|
|
|
Identification: |
- Unmistakeable due to its distinctive and easily observed drooping pair
of lower leaflets.
- Field Marks
- shape of frond and backward leaning habit
- light green to yellow green color
- drooping lower pinnae (leaflets)
|
Distribution: |
- Circumboreal, Alaska to Newfoundland and Greenland, south to northern
Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Minnesota, Missouri,
Tennessee, and North Carolina.
- Also Europe and Asia.
|
Habitat: |
- Boreal, wet temperate, and cool climates; frequency increasing with precipitation.
- Moist, calcareous cliff crevices or moist banks in rich, damp forest floors.
- Often associated with maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum).
- An indicator of nitrogen-rich soils and friable forest floors.
|
Fire: |
|
Associates: |
|
History: |
|
Uses: |
|
Reproduction: |
- Reproduces by spores and vegetatively by rhizomes
|
Propagation: |
|
Cultivation: |
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3 (average minimum annual temperature -40ºF)
- Cultural Requirements
- Shade
- Moist, organic soil
- Available by mail order from specialty suppliers.
|
Links: |
|
Comments: |
|
|
Last Updated on
26 February, 2004
|
