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Male Fern
Dryopteris filix-mas
  
13 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) 13 Nurseries Carry This Plant Dryopteris filix-mas (Common Male Fern or Male Fern) is one of the most common ferns of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, occurring throughout much of Europe, Asia, and North America. It favours damp shaded areas and is common in the understory of woodlands, but is also found in shady places on hedge-banks, rocks, and screes. It is much less abundant in North America than in Europe. The half-evergreen leaves have an upright habit and reach a maximum length of 1.5 meter, with a single crown on each rootstock. The bipinnate leaves consist of 20-35 pinnae on each side of the rachis. The leaves taper at both ends, with the basal pinnae about half the length of the middle pinnae. The pinules are rather blunt and equally lobed all around. The stalks are covered with orange-brown scales. On the abaxial surface of the mature blade 5 to 6 sori develop in two rows. When the spores ripen in August to November, the indusium starts to shrivel, leading to the release of the spores.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Fern

Size
Size
2.3 ft tall

Dormancy
Dormancy
Evergreen

Wildlife Supported
 


 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 2 likely * ) SHOW ALL
*
Hyles lineata Image
White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata
*
Argyrotaenia franciscana Image
Orange Tortrix Moth Argyrotaenia franciscanaArgyrotaenia franciscana

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Low, Moderate - High

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 13

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description
Soil Description
Tolerant of a variety of garden soils as long as sufficient moisture is available

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Granitic cliffs

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 12.8" - 53.6", Summer Precipitation: 0.26" - 2.63", Coldest Month: 21.8" - 55.5", Hottest Month: 39.1" - 73.5", Humidity: 0.84" - 22.25", Elevation: 15" - 13242"


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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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