Goldie's wood fern, dryoptère de goldie

Aspidium goldieanum Hooker ex Goldie, Edinburgh Philos. J. 6: 333. 1822 (as goldianum)

Leaves monomorphic, dying back in winter, 35--120 × 15--40 cm. Petiole 1/3 length of leaf, scaly at base; scales scattered, dark, glossy brown to nearly black, with pale border. Blade green, often white-mottled at tip, ovate, tapering abruptly at apex, pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate at base, herbaceous, not glandular. Pinnae parallel to plane of blade, ovate-lanceolate, broadest above base; basal pinnae broadly oblong-lanceolate, slightly reduced, basal pinnule equal to adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule and basal acroscopic pinnule equal; pinnule margins crenulate or serrate. Sori nearer midvein than margin. Indusia and axes lacking glands. 2 n = 82.

Dense, moist woods, especially ravines, limey seeps, or at the edge of swamps; 50--1500 m; N.B., Ont., Que.; Ala., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Dryopteris goldieana is diploid and is one of the parents of D . celsa and of D . clintoniana . Dryopteris goldieana hybridizes with five species. Hybrids can be identified by the glossy dark scales and large blade size. A remarkable additional hybrid (× Dryostichum singulare W. H. Wagner), involving this species and Polystichum lonchitis , is known from Gray and Simcoe counties, Ontario. It is intermediate between the parents and is sterile (W. H. Wagner Jr., F. S. Wagner et al. 1992).