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Clinton's woodfern

Dryopteris clintoniana

Also called Clinton's Fern, Clinton's Shield Fern, Clinton's Wood Fern

Clinton's woodfern
Photo: Daderot, CC0

Clinton's woodfern is a deciduous fern of hybrid origin, native to the cooler northern parts of eastern North America, where it grows in damp woods and wet ground. It does best in moist, shaded, humus-rich conditions.

Family
Dryopteridaceae (Wood fern family)
Grows as
Fern
Light
Part shade, Shade
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged.
Soil
Moist, humus-rich, slightly acidic to neutral soil or leaf mould.
Temperature
Hardy to roughly -30 °C; cool summers suit it best.
How easy
Easy
Native range
E. Canada to NC. & E. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

Dryopteris clintoniana, commonly known as Clinton's wood fern, is a fern of hybrid origin native to the northern hemisphere. It is a fertile hexaploid, arising as a species by doubling of its chromosome number from a hybrid between Dryopteris cristata, a tetraploid, and Dryopteris goldieana, a diploid. It is more northern in its range than either parent species.

This fern will be found in wet areas, similar to the habitat of D. cristata.

Other Dryopteris plants

Dryopteris hasseltii · Hay Scented Buckler Fern · Scaly Male Fern · Coastal woodfern · Mountain woodfern · Spinulose woodfern · Log fern · Cinnamon woodfern · Large Kidney Fern · Shield Fern · Serpent woodfern · Crested woodfern

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dryopteris clintoniana 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.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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