Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta (Filicophyta)
Class: Pteridopsida (Filicopsida)
Subclass: Filicinae
Order: Dryopteridales
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Genus: Dryopteris

Dryopteris marginalis

Common names: marginal or evergreen wood fern

Range: Eastern North America
Chromosome count: n=41

(Drawing from How to Know the Ferns by Frances Parsons)

The marginal wood fern is a unique and beautiful plant. Under optimum conditions, the leaf tissue is leathery and dark bluish-green. The sori, just before ripening, turn a blusish to purplish color.

This fern is an excellent garden plant. In the wild, it usually grows in sandy humus on or between rock, but it will grow well in garden soil.

The marginal wood fern grows west to eastern Kansas, farther west than out other native eastern wood ferns.

Top of Page
Feedback
This page was last revised on 11-10-1997.