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Dryopteris atrata

(Wall. ex Kunze) Ching

Hardy Shield Fern

Dryopteridaceae

Dryopteris atrata is a species of fern in the family Dryopteridaceae. It is native to eastern China, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. This name has been misapplied to Dryopteris cycadina (Hoshizaki and Wilson 1999).

Description

Dryopteris atrata is a species of fern in the family Dryopteridaceae. It is native to eastern China, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. This name has been misapplied to Dryopteris cycadina (Hoshizaki and Wilson 1999).

Uses

​Note: Please see the disclaimer regarding any information about medical or edible uses.

Dryopteris atrata grows up to 60 cm tall and has erect rhizomes. Rhizomes are densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Leaves are pinnate, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate. The blade is up to 30 cm long and about 15 cm wide at the middle, on a 20 to 30 cm long, straw-colored stipe. The stipe is covered with dark brown, lanceolate scales at the base; the upper portion is also covered with linear ciliate scales. The base of the leaf is not narrowed, and the tip is shortly pointed. Fronds have about 20 pairs of lanceolate leaflets. Leaflets are up to 8 to 10 cm long and 1.2 to 1.5 cm wide, shortly stalked, pointed at the tip. Leaflets are coarsely toothed to pinnately lobed, with a truncate base. Veins are covered with a few brown-black scales below. Sori are scattered and on the middle of veins; indusia are roughly round (Wu et al. 2013).

Distribution

Dryopteris atrata is found in broad-leaved evergreen forests, at altitudes of 500 to 2300 m. It is native to southern to eastern China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka (Wu et al. 2013).

Status

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References

Hoshizaki, B. J., and Wilson, K. A. 1999. The Cultivated Species of the Fern Genus Dryopteris in the United States. American Fern Journal 89(1): 1–98.

Wu, Z. Y., Raven, P. H., and Hong, D. Y., eds. 2013. Flora of China. Vol. 2-3 (Lycopodiaceae through Polypodiaceae). Beijing: Science Press, and St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.

Description
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