Polystichum setiferum (Forssk.) T.Moore ex Woynar, 1913

Common names

🇬🇧 Soft Shield-fern
🇫🇷 Polystic à soies, Polystic à frondes soyeuses, Fougère des fleuristes, Aspidium à cils raides

Taxonomy

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

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

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

Notes

Possible confusion with P. aculeatum (L.) Roth, 1799, which has a pair of basal pinnae that are clearly shorter than the median pinnae, pinnules whose angle of attachment on the rachilla is more acute, and lacks petiolules and auricles at the base of the pinnules, except for the first pinnules of each pinna, while P. setiferum has a pair of basal pinnae that are slightly shorter than the median pinnae, pinnules whose angle of attachment on the rachilla is more obtuse, and petiolules and auricles at the base of every pinnule. P. aculeatum is usually a deeper green, with a leathery appearance, and has pinnules that tend to curve slightly towards the abaxial side of the frond along the edge.

Diploid (2n = 82).

Hybridizes with:

P. aculeatum (L.) Roth, 1799 to produce P. × bicknellii Hahne, 1904, P;
P. braunii (Spenn.) Fée, 1852 to produce P. × wirtgenii Hahne, 1904, P.

Photographs

img/polystichum-setiferum.webp — *Polystichum setiferum*

img/polystichum-setiferum-2.webp — *Polystichum setiferum*

img/polystichum-setiferum-3.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Pinnae

img/polystichum-setiferum-4.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Pinnules

img/polystichum-setiferum-5.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Pinnules, abaxial side showing indusia and sori

img/polystichum-setiferum-6.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Basal pinnae

img/polystichum-setiferum-7.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Basal pinnae

img/polystichum-setiferum-8.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Petiole

img/polystichum-setiferum-9.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Crozier unfurling

img/polystichum-setiferum-10.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Crozier unfurling

img/polystichum-setiferum-11.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Croziers

img/polystichum-setiferum-12.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Large individual growing near a stream

img/polystichum-setiferum-13.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Pinnules of a large individual showing detached auricles

img/polystichum-setiferum-14.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Close-up of a pinnule showing open sporangia

Anomalies

img/polystichum-setiferum-anomaly.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Split frond

img/polystichum-setiferum-anomaly-2.webp — *Polystichum setiferum* - Split frond, close-up of the petiole

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
Christenhusz, M., Bento Elias, R., Dyer, R., Ivanenko, Y., Rouhan, G., Rumsey, F., & Väre, H. (2017). Polystichum setiferum (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/83651011/85427494
Prelli, R., & Boudrie, M. (2024). Les fougères et plantes alliées d’Europe (2nd ed., p. 408). Biotope.
Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 14). Biotope.