Taxonomy

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

Varieties

Dryopteris affinis var. affinis

Dryopteris affinis var. disjuncta

Dryopteris affinis var. splendens

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

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

Notes

Possible confusion with D. affinis subsp. borreri (Newman) Fraser-Jenk., 1980, which has few light brown scales on the petiole, and more or less asymmetrical basal pinnae, and dentate or at least lobed basal pinnules, while D. affinis subsp. affinis has abundant reddish-brown scales on the petiole, and symmetrical basal pinnae with entire pinnules.

The following infrasubspecific taxa are accepted:

• D. affinis subsp. affinis var. affinis
  • f. affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenk., 1979, P;
  • f. azorica (Fraser-Jenk.) Fraser-Jenk., 2024;
  • f. cluthensis (A.R.Church) Fraser-Jenk., 2024;
  • f. picoensis Fraser-Jenk., 2024;
• D. affinis subsp. affinis var. disjuncta (Fomin) Fraser-Jenk., 1980; ¹
• D. affinis subsp. affinis var. kerryensis Fraser-Jenk., 1996;
• D. affinis subsp. affinis var. paleaceolobata (T.Moore) Fraser-Jenk., 2021;
• D. affinis subsp. affinis var. splendens (Ehrler ex Becherer) Fraser-Jenk., 1980.

Apogamous diploid (n = 2n = 82).

Hybridizes with:

• D. filix-mas (L.) Schott, 1834 to produce D. × complexa nothosubsp. complexa: tetraploid (2n = 164)
  • nothovar. complexa Fraser-Jenk., 1987: var. affinis, P (hom. syn. D. × complexa Fraser-Jenk., 1987);
  • nothovar. contorta (Fraser-Jenk.) Fraser-Jenk., 2024: var paleaceolobata;
  • nothovar. eschelmuelleri (Fraser-Jenk.) Fraser-Jenk. & Parris, 2021: var. splendens;
  • nothovar. hibernica Fraser-Jenk. & Trewren, 2024: var. kerryensis.

Photographs

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

• Belhacène, L. (2015). État des connaissances pour le complexe Dryopteris affinis s.l. en Haute-Garonne. Isatis, 15, 55-56.

• Frasen-Jenkins, C.R. (2007). The species and subspecies in the Dryopteris affinis group. The Fern Gazette, 18(1), 1-26.

• Prelli, R., & Boudrie, M. (2024). Les fougères et plantes alliées d’Europe (2nd ed., p. 364). Biotope.

• Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 12). Biotope.

• Trewren, K. (2014). Some taxa within the Dryopteris affinis complex (p. 6). The British Pteridological Society.

• Väre, H., Bento Elias, R., Christenhusz, M., Dyer, R., Ivanenko, Y., Rouhan, G., & Rumsey, F. (2017). Dryopteris affinis (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/83645082/84789458