Phegopteris hexagonoptera (Michx.) Fée

Broad Beech Fern; Southern Beech Fern

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Broad Beech Fern is a native perennial fern in the Marsh Fern family (Thelypteridaceae). It can be found throughout most of Alabama, except the southern-most counties. Broad Beech Fern occurs on hardwood slopes, in ravines, and in moist, mature hardwood forests. It usually occurs in deep shade, often under American Beech trees. It is a perennial with a long, creeping rhizome. The fronds (leaves) are monomorphic and deciduous. The frond is broadly triangular in outline, about as long as broad. The petiole is greenish-tan, glabrous or pubescent, with tan scales near the base. The frond is pinnate, light green in color, pubescent along the veins, and with stalked yellow glands. The pinnae are incised or entire, and the rachis is winged. Broad Beech Fern produces spores in sporangia that occur in clusters known as sori located along the veins on the lower surface of the frond. The sori lack an indusium (covering). Broad Beech Fern is sometimes cultivated. It prefers a shady location, with a moist humus-rich soil. It can be propagated by divisions of the rhizome.—A. Diamond

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Native FACU+ (NWPL)

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