Log In New Account Sitemap
  • Home
  • Specimen Search
    • Search Collections
    • Map Search
    • Exsiccati Search
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Search Images
  • Flora Projects
    • Arizona
    • New Mexico
    • Colorado Plateau
    • Plant Atlas of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Sonoran Desert
    • Teaching Checklists
  • Agency Floras
    • NPS - Intermountain
    • USFWS - Region 2
    • BLM Flora
    • Coronado NF
  • Dynamic Floras
    • Dynamic Checklist
    • Dynamic Key
  • Additional Websites
    • New Mexico Flores
    • Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Southwest Colorado Wildflowers
    • Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness
    • Consortium of Midwest Herbaria
    • Consortium of Southern Rocky Mountain Herbaria
    • Intermountain Region Herbaria Network (IRHN)
    • Mid-Atlantic Herbaria
    • North American Network of Small Herbaria (NANSH)
    • Northern Great Plains Herbaria
    • Red de Herbarios del Noroeste de México (northern Mexico)
    • SERNEC - Southeastern USA
    • Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH)
  • Resources
    • Symbiota Docs
    • Video Tutorials
    • Collections in SEINet
    • Joining a Portal
Polystichum
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Polystichum image
Max Licher
  • FNA
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
David H. Wagner in Flora of North America (vol. 2)
Plants terrestrial. Stems decumbent to erect, stolons absent. Leaves monomorphic (dimorphic in P . acrostichoides ), evergreen. Petiole 1/9--1 times length of blade, bases swollen or not; vascular bundles more than 3, arranged in an arc, ± round in cross section. Blade linear-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 1--3-pinnate, gradually reduced distally to pinnatifid apex, somewhat leathery to leathery. Pinnae not articulate to rachis, segment or pinna margins spinulose-toothed (except P . lemmonii ); proximal pinnae (several pairs) usually gradually reduced, sessile to short-petiolulate, bases usually inequilateral with acroscopic lobe; costae adaxially grooved, grooves continuous from rachis to costae; indument of linear to lanceolate scales on costae and sometimes between veins abaxially (microscales), ± glabrous or similarly scaly adaxially (scales forming loosely tangled network over blade and sori in P . dudleyi ). Veins free, forked, rarely ( P . imbricans ) anastomosing. Sori in 1 row (to several) between midrib and margins, round (confluent, covering abaxial surface in P . acrostichoides ); indusia peltate, persistent or caducous [absent]. Spores yellow or brownish to black, with inflated folds. x = 41. The mating systems of Polystichum seem to be highly outcrossing (P. S. Soltis and D. E. Soltis 1987; P. S. Soltis et al. 1989); hybrids are frequent where two or more species occur. Sterile hybrids are discussed under one of their putative parents. Sterile hybrids are best recognized by their misshapen sporangia, which produce little black dots at the end of the season instead of forming the fuzzy brown bump typical of sori after spores have been expelled. In many cases the intermediacy and robustness of hybrids make them stand out as odd. At least one or two hybrid plants are to be expected in large, mixed populations. The allopolyploids, having hybrid origins, present particular problems. They exhibit the Vavilov effect: allopolyploids tend to resemble one of their parental species when they grow with, or in the habitat typical of, that species (D. S. Barrington et al. 1989).

In the flora there are six diploids, five tetraploids, one hexaploid, and three species whose chomosome number is unknown. Relationships among the diploids are generally not very close; that is, each is probably more closely related to a species outside the flora than to one of the other species in the flora. The exception to this is the group composed of Polystichum acrostichoides , P . imbricans , and P . munitum . Polystichum acrostichoides appears to share a Tertiary common ancestor with P . munitum , and P . imbricans is more recently derived from P . munitum . All of the polyploid species are fertile allopolyploids. One of these species ( P . braunii ) is also involved in the formation of the hexaploid P . setigerum (see below).

Relationships among Polystichum Species

Allopolyploid Presumed Originating Crosses andersonii kwakiutlii × munitum californicum dudleyi × imbricans or dudleyi × munitum kruckebergii lemmonii × lonchitis scopulinum lemmonii × imbricans or lemmonii × munitum setigerum braunii × munitum

The morphological similarity among Polystichum species may make identification difficult, particularly among the species with more divided leaves. The keys presented here are designed for mature, typical individuals. Some of the characters mentioned in the keys and descriptions require the use of a microscope. The microscales (small trichomes that occur on the abaxial leaf surface of all species and adaxially in some) are best observed by peeling them off with cellophane tape and mounting the tape on a slide, sticky side up, under a coverslip. The tape can also be used to lift off the components of the sori. Polystichum acrostichoides , P . andersonii , P . lemmonii , and P . munitum are known to have sclereid clusters in their pith. Polystichum imbricans lacks such clusters, and data are not available for th

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Petioles stout, with 4 or 5 vascular bundles, much shorter than the blades, beset with persistent, brownish, notably dimorphic scales, some broad and often toothed or cleft, others small, appressed, hair-like; blade scaly especially on the rachis and costae, otherwise glabrous or occasionally glandular, pinnate to subtripinnate, the principal pinnae subsessile on a narrow, very shortly petiolulate base, the uppermost ones reduced and confluent; pinnae or pinnules spinulose-toothed, mostly subfalcate; veins obscure, free, mostly once-forked; sori borne on the veins in one or more rows on each side of the midrib; indusium peltate, rotund, persistent; ferns with stout, scaly, erect or short-creeping rhizomes and clustered, firm, evergreen lvs. 135, cosmop.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Show all taxa || << 1 - 50 taxa >>
Polystichum acanthophyllum
Images
not available
Polystichum acrostichoides
Image of Polystichum acrostichoides
Polystichum aculeatum
Image of Polystichum aculeatum
Polystichum acutidens
Images
not available
Polystichum adiantiforme
Image of Polystichum adiantiforme
Polystichum alaskense
Image of Polystichum alaskense
Polystichum alcicorne
Images
not available
Polystichum aleuticum
Image of Polystichum aleuticum
Polystichum alfaroi
Image of Polystichum alfaroi
Polystichum ambiguum
Image of Polystichum ambiguum
Polystichum andersonii
Image of Polystichum andersonii
Polystichum anomalum
Image of Polystichum anomalum
Polystichum atkinsonii
Images
not available
Polystichum auriculatum
Image of Polystichum auriculatum
Polystichum balansae
Image of Polystichum balansae
Polystichum biaristatum
Image of Polystichum biaristatum
Polystichum bonseyi
Image of Polystichum bonseyi
Polystichum braunii
Image of Polystichum braunii
Polystichum calderonense
Images
not available
Polystichum californicum
Image of Polystichum californicum
Polystichum capillipes
Images
not available
Polystichum caudescens
Image of Polystichum caudescens
Polystichum cheilanthoides
Images
not available
Polystichum chilense
Image of Polystichum chilense
Polystichum christianae
Image of Polystichum christianae
Polystichum cochleatum
Image of Polystichum cochleatum
Polystichum concinnum
Image of Polystichum concinnum
Polystichum craspedosorum
Image of Polystichum craspedosorum
Polystichum cystostegia
Image of Polystichum cystostegia
Polystichum decoratum
Image of Polystichum decoratum
Polystichum deltodon
Image of Polystichum deltodon
Polystichum deminuens
Image of Polystichum deminuens
Polystichum diaphanum
Images
not available
Polystichum discretum
Image of Polystichum discretum
Polystichum distans
Image of Polystichum distans
Polystichum dubium
Image of Polystichum dubium
Polystichum dudleyi
Image of Polystichum dudleyi
Polystichum echinatum
Image of Polystichum echinatum
Polystichum erythrosorum
Image of Polystichum erythrosorum
Polystichum fibrillosopaleaceum
Images
not available
Polystichum filiorum
Image of Polystichum filiorum
Polystichum formosanum
Image of Polystichum formosanum
Polystichum fournieri
Image of Polystichum fournieri
Polystichum fragrans
Image of Polystichum fragrans
Polystichum glaciale
Images
not available
Polystichum glandulosum
Image of Polystichum glandulosum
Polystichum haleakalense
Image of Polystichum haleakalense
Polystichum hancockii
Image of Polystichum hancockii
Polystichum harrisii
Image of Polystichum harrisii
Polystichum hartwegii
Image of Polystichum hartwegii
The National Science Foundation
Development supported by National Science Foundation Grants (DBI 9983132, BRC 0237418, DBI 0743827, DBI 0847966)
Powered by Symbiota