Dryopteris ludoviciana (Kunze) Small

Florida Wood Fern; Southern Wood Fern; Louisiana Wood Fern

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Southern Wood Fern is an evergreen native perennial fern in the Wood Fern family (Dryopteridaceae). It occurs in the southeastern portion of Alabama. Southern Wood Fern grows in bald cypress swamps, around lime sinks and caves, and along small to medium streams. It is a perennial from a creeping rhizome. The leaves (fronds) are dimorphic (of two shapes). The fertile and sterile fronds differ in size and shape. The fertile fronds are more upright while the sterile ones tend to recline. The fertile ones can be up to three feet in length while the sterile ones are about half that size. The pinnae (divisions of the leaf) are narrower in the fertile fronds than in the sterile ones, and the overall outline of the fertile frond is narrower. The lower portion of the rachis (stalk of the leaf) is covered in papery scales. These scales are light brown in color. The related Log Fern (Dryopteris celsa (W. Palmer) Knowlton) occurs within the range of Southern Wood Fern. It differs in having scales on the rachis that are darker in color, the sterile and fertile leaves are not dimorphic, and it usually grows on drier sites. The hybrid between Southern Wood Fern and Log Fern is the sterile Dixie Wood Fern (Dryopteris ×australis (Wherry) Small). It is a very vigorous plant that can be identified by the aborted and malformed spores it produces. Southern Wood Fern is one of the parents of Log Fern (Dryopteris celsa (W. Palmer) Knowlton) and Crested Wood Fern (Dryopteris cristata (Linnaeus) A. Gray). Southern Wood Fern is available from some native plant nurseries. It requires moist organic soils. It does well in dense shade where few other plants will grow. --A. Diamond

**

Native FACW (NWPL)

**