Dryopteris borreri (Newman) Kinahan, 1856

Common names

🇬🇧 Borrer’s Male Fern
🇫🇷 Dryoptéride de Borrer, Dryoptéris de Borrer

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Monilophytes
Class: Polypodiopsida
Subclass: Polypodiidae
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Polypodiineae
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Subfamily: Dryopteridoideae
Genus: Dryopteris
Species: Dryopteris borreri

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

Red List (Metropolitan France): LC Least Concern
Red List (Europe): LC Least Concern

Notes

Possible confusion with D. filix-mas (L.) Schott, 1834, which has symmetrical basal pinnae and lacks a black spot at the junction of the pinnae with the rachis, while D. borreri has more or less asymmetrical basal pinnae and a black spot at the junction of the pinnae with the rachis, visible on the abaxial side.

Possible confusion with D. affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenk., 1979, which has abundant reddish-brown scales on the petiole, and symmetrical basal pinnae with entire pinnules, while D. borreri has few light brown scales on the petiole, more or less asymmetrical basal pinnae, and dentate or at least lobed first pinnules.

This species was previously considered a subspecies of D. affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenk., 1979 under the name D. affinis subsp. borreri (Newman) Fraser-Jenk., 1980.

Apogamous triploid (n = 2n = 123).

The following infraspecific taxa are accepted:

D. borreri var. borreri (Newman) Kinahan, 1856, P;
D. borreri var. robusta Oberh. & Tavel, 1937: het. syn. D. robusta (Oberh. & Tavel ex Fraser-Jenk.) P.D.Sell, 2018.

Hybridizes with D. filix-mas (L.) Schott, 1834 to produce D. × critica (Fraser-Jenk.) Fraser-Jenk., 2007, P.

Named after William Borrer (1781-1862), an English botanist.

Photographs

img/dryopteris-borreri-2.webp — *Dryopteris borreri*

img/dryopteris-borreri.webp — *Dryopteris borreri*

img/dryopteris-borreri-3.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Pinnae

img/dryopteris-borreri-5.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Pinnules

img/dryopteris-borreri-10.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Pinnules

img/dryopteris-borreri-4.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Basal pinna

img/dryopteris-borreri-11.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - First pinnules of basal pinna

img/dryopteris-borreri-6.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Pinnules, abaxial side showing indusia and sori

img/dryopteris-borreri-7.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Abaxial side showing the distinctive black spots at the junction of the pinnae with the rachis

img/dryopteris-borreri-8.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Abaxial side showing the distinctive black spots at the junction of the pinnae with the rachis

img/dryopteris-borreri-9.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Petiole showing light brown scales

img/dryopteris-borreri-12.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Large root with a trunk-like appearance

img/dryopteris-borreri-13.webp — *Dryopteris borreri* - Croziers unfurling

Sources

Badré, F., & Deschatres, R. (1979). Les Ptéridophytes de la France : liste commentée des espèces (taxinomie, cytologie, écologie et répartition générale). Candollea, 34(2), 379-457. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-880127
Prelli, R., & Boudrie, M. (2024). Les fougères et plantes alliées d’Europe (2nd ed., p. 365). Biotope.
Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 12). Biotope.
Väre, H., Bento Elias, R., Christenhusz, M., Dyer, R., Ivanenko, Y., Rouhan, G., & Rumsey, F. (2017). Dryopteris borreri (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/83645436/84789468