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D. carthusiana resources
Descriptive
<i>Den virtuella floran</i>, close-up photosDen virtuella floran, close-up photos
Connecticut Botanical SocietyConnecticut Botanical Society
Ferns of the NorthwoodsFerns of the Northwoods
Flore laurentienne, as D. spinulosaFlore laurentienne, as D. spinulosa
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Distribution
North AmericaNorth America
WorldWorld
Drawing
as Aspidium spinulosumas Aspidium spinulosum
Flora
Flora of North AmericaFlora of North America
Monograph
Hoshizaki and WilsonHoshizaki and Wilson
Photo
basal pinnaebasal pinnae
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lower bladelower blade
Photo index
Bioimages: many good imagesBioimages: many good images
PlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photosPlantSystematics.org, diagnostic photos

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Dryopteris carthusiana (Villars) H. P. Fuchs

Spinulose wood fern

Etymology Carthusiana is named after the botanist Johan Friedrich Cartheuser (1704-1777). An alternative origin is the village of Carthusium in Dauphiné, France, where Dominique Villars collected it.
Description Rhizome: short-creeping, forming an asymmetric clump, covered with old stipe bases.
Frond: 60 cm high by 15 cm wide, deciduous, monomorphic, though the sterile fronds tend to be somewhat shorter, arching, blade/stipe ratio: 2:1 to 3:1.
Stipe: grooved, base enlarged (trophopod), light brown scales at base, less above, vascular bundles: 5 in a c-shaped pattern.
Blade: 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, ovate-lanceolate, herbaceous, glabrous above, glabrous or with a few scales or glands below.
Pinnae: 12 to 14 pair, held almost horizontally, the lowest one weakly anadromic, not reduced or only slightly reduced in length compared to the second pair; pinnules first lower pinnule of basal pinna twice as long as upper one, and also larger than second lower pinnule; costae grooved above, continuous from rachis to costae; margins margins serrate, teeth spiny; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, in 1 row between midrib and margin, at the tips of veins, usually absent on the lowest pinna, indusium: reniform, gray-white, at a sinus, sporangia: dark brown, maturity: midsummer.
Dimensionality: nearly horizontal pinnae, tips pointing upward.
Culture Habitat: wet woods, moist wooded slopes, stream banks, swamps. Distribution: circumboreal, south to Pyrenees, Himalayas. Hardy to -40°C, USDA Zone 2.
Distinctive Characteristics lowest pinna: relative size of pinnules (as above) and first lower pinnule nearly opposite first upper pinnule; in the similar D. dilatata and D. expansa the first upper pinnule is distinctly closer to the rachis (anadromic).
Synonyms
Dryopteris spinulosa (O. F. Mueller) Watt.
Polypodium carthusianum Villars
Dryopteris austriaca (Jacquin) Schinz & Thellung var. spinulosa (O. F. Mueller) Fiori
Polypodium spinulosum O. F. Mueller
Polystichum spinulosum Lam. & DC.
Thelypteris spinulosa Nieuwl.
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana. entire frond, swollen stipe base; from left clockwise: stipe scale, toothed pinnule, sorus.  Illustration from Scandinavian Ferns by Benjamin Ĝllgaard and Kirsten Tind, Rhodos, 1993.
Notes
Compare to Differs from D. intermedia in that the first set of pinnules on the basal pinnae are longer than the second set.
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana. Lowest pinna: anadromic with the first downward-pointing pinnule larger than the second one.  Scan: Tom Stuart
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana. Segment of pinna. Note the diagnostic, scattered, tan and cream glands on costa and upper laminar surface. A hand lens is necessary.  Scan: Tom Stuart
Dryopteris carthusiana vascular bundles
Dryopteris carthusiana. Base of stipe cross-section: five vascular bundles in an arc, two visible to the naked eye. Sometimes the pair of smallest bundles disappears before the top of the stipe.  Scan: Tom Stuart
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana. Pinnules with withering indusia.  Scan: Tom Stuart
Dryopteris carthusiana
Dryopteris carthusiana. a) frond, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, first pinnules nearly opposite each other on lowest pinna; b) potion of fertile pinnule.  Illustration by V. Fulford from Ferns and Fern Allies of Canada, William J. Cody and Donald M. Britton, 1989, İ Agriculture Canada, used with permission.
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