Species of Connecticut

Asplenium montanum, commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, is a small fern of the Appalachian Mountains. First described in 1810, it grows in small crevices in sandstone cliffs with highly acid soil. It can be recognized by its dark blue-green, highly divided leaves. A. montanum is the ancestor, through hybridization, of several other ferns of similar habitat. less ↑

Asplenium ruta-muraria is a species of fern commonly known as wall-rue. In Germany, it is known as Mauerraute or Mauerstreifenfarn. It is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other calcareous rocks. It is native to both Europe and eastern North America. In Europe, it commonly invades masonry and is a common species, while in the United States, it is more difficult to find, favoring pockets in very well-weathered and rather dry limestone... less ↑

Woodwardia virginica (Virginia chain fern, Woodwardie de virginie) is a leptosporangiate fern with long creeping, scaly, underground stems or rhizomes which give rise to tall (up to about 4 feet, 120 centimetres) widely separated, deciduous, single leaves. In contrast, the leaves of Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, which can be mistaken for W. virginica, grow in a group from a crown. Also in contrast to O. cinnamomeum the leaves are monomorphic without distinct fertile fronds. The lower petiole or stipe is... less ↑

Sceptridium dissectum is a common fern (or fern-ally) in the family Ophioglossaceae, occurring in eastern North America. Like other plants in this group, it normally only sends up one frond per year. It has long been the subject of confusion because the frond presents in one of two forms, either the normal form (forma obliquum) that resembles other plants in the genus, or the skeletonized form (forma dissectum). less ↑

Onoclea sensibilis, the sensitive fern, also known as the bead fern, is a coarse-textured, medium to large-sized deciduous perennial fern. The name comes from the observation by early American settlers that it was very sensitive to frost, the fronds dying quickly when first touched by it. It is sometimes treated as the only species in Onoclea, but some authors do not consider the genus monotypic. less ↑

Ophioglossum pusillum is a species of fernlike plant in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name northern adder's tongue. It is native to northern North America, where it is widespread in moist areas such as marshes, fens, and meadows. It is a small, inconspicuous, fleshy perennial plant growing from a caudex no more than 3 centimeters wide. It produces one leaf per year. The leaf is divided into a thin, pale green blade-shaped part, which... less ↑

Polypodium appalachianum is a recently recognized fern species, native to eastern North America. Sometimes called the Appalachian rockcap fern, it is very similar in appearance to Polypodium virginianum. For years, P. virginianum -- long considered a variety of the British Polypodium vulgare -- was recognized as having cryptic races, with diploid, triploid, and tetraploid representatives. Since the triploid specimens bore abortive spores, it was apparently the hybrid between the diploid and tetraploid groups. In 1991, it... less ↑

Thelypteris noveboracensis, or the New York fern, is a fern found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. It is distinctive by its pinnae tapering to the base of the frond, and by its forming extensive clonal colonies on ridgetops and mountain benches. The only other native species in this area with similarly tapering pinnae is the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, which generally grows in riparian habitats. The only other species that forms as extensive clonal... less ↑

Pellaea glabella is the smooth cliffbrake. For much of pteridological history, it was regarded as a reduced form or variety of Pellaea atropurpurea. P. glabella is known to exist in two cryptic species, one diploid and one tetraploid. The diploid reproduces sexually, while the tetraploid is normally apogamous. It is now known that the tetraploid form of the species is one of the parents of the original hybrid P. Xatropurpurea that became the apogamous species. less ↑

Woodwardia areolata (netted chain fern) is a species of fern native to eastern North America. It is usually treated in the genus Woodwardia, in the eupolypods II clade of the order Polypodiales, in the class Polypodiopsida. It is sometimes transferred to the monotypic genus Lorinseria as Lorinseria areolata (L.) C.Presl, on the basis of its anastamosing veins and lobed frond form, as well as its more marked frond dimorphism; however, the genus name Lorinseria is invalid,... less ↑

Woodwardia virginica (Virginia chain fern, Woodwardie de virginie) is a leptosporangiate fern with long creeping, scaly, underground stems or rhizomes which give rise to tall (up to about 4 feet, 120 centimetres) widely separated, deciduous, single leaves. In contrast, the leaves of Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, which can be mistaken for W. virginica, grow in a group from a crown. Also in contrast to O. cinnamomeum the leaves are monomorphic without distinct fertile fronds. The lower petiole or stipe is... less ↑

Asplenium platyneuron (syn. Asplenium ebeneum), commonly known as ebony spleenwort or brownstem spleenwort, is a fern native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains and to South Africa. It takes its common name from its dark, reddish-brown, glossy stipe and rachis (stem and leaf axis), which bear a once-divided, pinnate leaf. The fertile fronds, which die off in the winter, are darker green and stand upright, while the sterile fronds are evergreen and lie flat... less ↑

Cystopteris protrusa is a common fern of eastern North America. Throughout much of its range, it is the most common Cystopteris. It is commonly known as the lowland brittle fern or lowland fragile fern. The specific name, protrusa, refers to the fact that the rhizome protrudes a short distance beyond the current year's fronds to form the following year's leaf buds. This protrusion is a positive diagnostic in the field. Sori are round and covered in... less ↑

Cystopteris fragilis is a species of fern known by the common names brittle bladderfern and common fragile fern. It can be found worldwide, generally in shady, moist areas. The leaves are up to 30 or 40 centimeters long and are borne on fleshy petioles. Each leaf is divided into many pairs of leaflets, each of which is subdivided into lobed segments. The underside of the leaf has many rounded sori containing the sporangia. less ↑

Cystopteris bulbifera (bulblet bladderfern) is a low-growing rock fern with creeping stems and narrow elongate deltate fronds which grow to 75 cm (30 in), native to eastern North America with two disjunct populations in the west. It is found only on calcareous substrates such as limestone. It commonly festoons limestone cave openings. While most commonly found on vertical rock faces, it also grows in rocky scree. C. bulbifera is unusual among ferns in producing bulblets along... less ↑

Dryopteris clintoniana, commonly known as Clinton's wood fern, is a fern of hybrid origin native to the northern hemisphere. It is a fertile hexaploid, arising as a species by doubling of its chromosome number from a hybrid between Dryopteris cristata, a tetraploid, and Dryopteris goldiana, a diploid. It is more northern in its range than either parent species. less ↑

Dryopteris cristata (L.) A. Gray is a species of fern native to wetlands throughout the Holarctic Kingdom. It is known as the crested wood fern. This plant is a tetraploid species of hybrid origin, one parent being Dryopteris ludoviciana and the other being the unknown, apparently extinct species, dubbed Dryopteris semicristata, which is also one of the presumed parents of Dryopteris carthusiana. D. cristata in turn is one of the parents of Dryopteris clintoniana, another fern... less ↑

Dryopteris marginalis is known as the marginal shield fern or marginal wood fern. The marginal wood fern favors damp shady areas and is found throughout eastern North America. It favors moderately acid to circumneutral soils. It favors cooler areas, but is fairly drought-resistant once established. In the warmer parts of its range, it is most likely to be found on north-facing non-calcareous rock faces. less ↑

Matteuccia struthiopteris (common names ostrich fern or shuttlecock fern) is a crown-forming, colony-forming fern, occurring in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in eastern and northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America. The species epithet struthiopteris comes from Ancient Greek words, struthio meaning ostrich and pterion meaning wing. less ↑

Onoclea sensibilis, the sensitive fern, also known as the bead fern, is a coarse-textured, medium to large-sized deciduous perennial fern. The name comes from the observation by early American settlers that it was very sensitive to frost, the fronds dying quickly when first touched by it. It is sometimes treated as the only species in Onoclea, but some authors do not consider the genus monotypic. less ↑