marsh fern (A Field Guide for TSA Campus Woods)

marsh fern

Thelypteris palustris

Summary ⁷

Thelypteris palustris, or the marsh fern, is a fern native to eastern North America and across Eurasia. It prefers to grow in marshy situations in full sun.

Description ⁸

Rhizome long, creeping and branching, 2-3 mm in diameter; rhizome scales up to 2 mm long, dark brown, ovate, nonpersistent. Fronds spaced 1-5 cm apart, erect or arching, not proliferous, herbaceous. Stipe up to 40 cm long, pale brown, often blackened towards the base, subglabrous. Lamina up to 60 × 15 cm, lanceolate to elliptic in outline, deeply 2-pinnatifid, apex tapering to a point with a pinnatifid terminal segment, lower pinnae slightly reduced and widely spaced. Pinnae linear to oblong-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid into oblong and rounded to triangular and acute ultimate lobes, margins entire; under surface of costae with or without hairs and with pale brown ovate scales, upper surface hairless; veins not meeting the veins of the adjacent lobes. Rhachis pale brown, hairless. Sori up to 18 per lobe, round, situated halfway between the costa and the margin; indusia kidney-shaped, membranous, hairless or with short marginal hairs.

Habitat and ecology ⁹

Habitat and Ecology

The species is found on flinty substrate or on peat substrate, in wetlands, humid ditches, shores of ponds, on alluvial deposits along rivers. It is a perennial plant (rhizomatous Geophyte) that reproduces in autumn under the sub-humid Mediterranean bioclimate.

Systems

Terrestrial
Freshwater

Associations ¹⁰

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / spot causer
Herpobasidium filicinum causes spots on moribund frond of Thelypteris palustris

Threats ¹¹

Major Threats

In the Maghreb countries, the grazing pressure is very high; furthermore the sites of T. palustris are threatened by the effect of drainage and agriculture on wetland habitats.
In Europe, the threats are essentially water pollution and the deterioration of the habitat.In Turkey, the main threats are drying, dam constructions,afforestation and pollution.

Comments ¹²

The name Thelypteris thelypterioides (Michaux) Holub has been applied to T . palustris , but A. F. Tryon et al. (1980) have shown that this was a result of an incorrect typification by C. V. Morton (1967).

Thelypteris palustris var. palustris occurs in Eurasia.

Sources and Credits

(c) Homer Edward Price, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/28340342@N08/2974070021
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/photos/JCS-Thelypteris-palustris-60197.JPG
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/photos/JCS-Thelypteris-palustris-60196.JPG
(c) Ori Fragman-Sapir, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://i1.treknature.com/photos/1990/thelypteris_palustris.jpg
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/photos/JCS-Thelypteris-palustris-60195.JPG
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/photos/JCS-Thelypteris-palustris-60194.JPG
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelypteris_palustris
(c) Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten and Petra Ballings, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/30274281
(c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34755501
(c) BioImages, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22925536
(c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34755502
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/19781794

More Info

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marsh fern

Summary 7

Description 8

Habitat and ecology 9

Associations 10

Threats 11

Comments 12