
Dryopteridaceae (dry-OP-ter-id-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Scales on stalks
- Fronds 1- to 4-pinnate
- Sori along frond veins
- Indusia present
Description (Jepson)
- Ferns (Polypodiopsida)
- An early group of vascular plants that produce spores (reproductive cells)
- Produce no flowers or seeds
- Fossil records date back almost 400 million years, versus 130 million years for flowering plants
- An early group of vascular plants that produce spores (reproductive cells)
- Perennial herbs
- Grow from rhizomes (horizontal underground stems)
- Fronds (leaves)
- Compound (divided into leaflets), with 1-4 levels of division (1-4 pinnate)
- Young fronds uncurl from tight spirals called fiddleheads
- Stalks (petioles) have scales
- Sori
- Sori (singular: sorus) are clusters of spore-producing, sac-like structures called sporangia (singular: sporangium)
- Sporangia sacs split open to catapult mature, microscopic spores, which are wind dispersed
- Located on the underside of leaflets along the veins
- Each round sorus is protected by a tissue flap called an indusium (plural: indusia)
- Sori (singular: sorus) are clusters of spore-producing, sac-like structures called sporangia (singular: sporangium)
Notes
- More than 1,600 species worldwide
- Scientific name from the included genus Dryopteris, from the Greek drys, “oak,” and pteris, “fern,” referring to the plants’ habitat
- Represented by 2 species at Edgewood
- Edgewood has 7 fern species in 4 plant families
- Brake family (Pteridaceae)
- California maidenhair fern (Adiantum jordanii)
- Coffee fern (Pellaea andromedifolia)
- Goldback fern (Pentagramma triangularis)
- Polypody family (Polypodiaceae)
- California polypody (Polypodium californicum)
- Wood fern family (Dryopteridaceae)
- Coastal wood fern (Dryopteris arguta)
- Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum)
- Horsetail family (Equisetaceae)
- Giant horsetail (Equisetum telmateia ssp. braunii)
- Brake family (Pteridaceae)
Specific References
American Fern Society. About Ferns.
Pai, A. 2018, Dec. 28. Fantastic ferns and where to find them. Bay Nature.
U.S. Forest Service. What are ferns? Forest Service. United States Department of Agriculture.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family

