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Northern Buckler-Fern

Northern Buckler-Fern

Dryopteris expansa

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How common: Common

Northern Buckler-Fern is a large, ground-dwelling fern of moist, shady forests. Its tall, broadly triangular leaves rise in loose clumps from a short underground stem. You can see it in damp woods, by streams, and on wet mountain slopes in northern regions.

Did you know?

  • Its leaves grow in a ring-like clump from a short, thick underground stem.
  • Found across northern Europe, Asia and North America.

About the species

Identification

A robust fern forming clumps 30–120 cm tall. Leaves slightly leaning, thin, with a brown stalk about half as long as the leaf; the lower stalk often has narrow, two-toned brown scales. The leaf is broadly triangular and cut into many small segments, divided two to four times. The lowest pair of side-branches is large; on each, the first lower segment is about half the length of that side-branch. Brownish spore dots may cover the leaf underside in season. Similar to other buckler-ferns; compared with Narrow Buckler-Fern it is bigger and more triangular.

Plant group

Ferns, horsetails and clubmosses

Habitat

mire

About the habitat

Moist to wet forests and groves, swampy woods, stream banks, at the base of rocks, and on wet slopes and meadows in mountains. Found throughout Finland; fairly rare in central Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Liam Steele, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/5938028379

Text: Pinkka: BIO-515 Etelä-Suomen putkilokasvit - Saniaiset ja liekokasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37754

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Saniaiset ja liekokasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37754

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Tunturit: tunturikoivikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37754

Text: Pinkka: IPS-154 Subarctic habitats and biota - Sanikkaiset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37754

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoalvejuuri

See also