Links to genera Ferns and Horsetails (Monilophytes) Clubmosses and Quillworts (Lycophytes)
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| Dryopteris | Buckler Ferns, Male Ferns
Mostly medium to large terrestrial ferns. Stipe grooved, scaly; vascular bundles arranged in a c-shape; leaves (1-)2-4 pinnate; of single type in most species, but dimorphic in a few; sori round, forming rows on each side of pinnule or pinnule-segment; indusium present, more or less kidney-shaped, attached.
Over 200 species worldwide, the majority in temperate areas. At least 9 species in Britain and Ireland, depending on how the apogamous hybrids are treated. These ferns are derived from hybrids but are able to reproduce without fertilisation. In Britain and Ireland they include the ferns of the D. affinis group, and D. remota. Until recently, D. affinis was usually treated as a single species, with several subspecies, varieties or morphotypes, but in 2007 Christopher Fraser-Jenkins published a reappraisal of the group, in which he defined seven full species from the taxa formerly included in D. affinis. Three of these - D. affinis, D. borreri and D. cambrensis - occur in Britain and Ireland, and one - D. pseudodisjuncta - has recently been found in SW Scotland and could occur elsewhere. More recently, another taxon - Dryopteris lacunosa - has been described. The hybrids of these with D. filix-mas, formerly grouped together as D. x complexa, will be listed under hybrids in a later edition. D. remota is treated as a species by Stace in the New Flora of the British Isles, and although it has not been found in the wild for many years I will include it here later for completeness.
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