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Dryopteris
Also called Wood ferns, Dryopters, Wood Fern, Shield Fern, Buckler Fern, Buckler Ferns, Shieldfern
Dryopteris is a large genus of about 300 to 400 ferns, known as wood ferns, male ferns or buckler ferns, found across most continents. Most grow as a slowly spreading crown with a vase-like ring of fronds, and they suit shaded, moist woodland-style gardens.
The moth genus Dryopteris is now considered a junior synonym of Oreta.
Dryopteris , commonly called the wood ferns, male ferns (referring in particular to Dryopteris filix-mas), or buckler ferns, is a fern genus in the family Dryopteridaceae, subfamily Dryopteridoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). There are about 300-400 species in the genus. The species are distributed in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific islands, with the highest diversity in eastern Asia. It is placed in the family Dryopteridaceae, subfamily Dryopteridoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). Many of the species have stout, slowly creeping rootstocks that form a crown, with a vase-like ring of fronds. The sori are round, with a peltate indusium. The stipes have prominent scales.
Many Dryopteris species are widely used as garden ornamental plants, especially D. affinis, D. erythrosora, and D. filix-mas, with numerous cultivars.
Dryopteris filix-mas was throughout much of recent human history widely used as a vermifuge, and was the only fern listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia.
Dryopteris species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Batrachedra sophroniella (which feeds exclusively on D. cyatheoides) and Sthenopiseauratus.
Scaly Male Fern · Coastal woodfern · Shaggy Wood Fern · Broad buckler-fern · Autumn Fern · Male fern · Intermediate woodfern · Southern woodfern · Siebold's Wood Fern · Alpine woodfern · Wood Fern
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dryopteris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
