''Phegopteris hexagonoptera'', commonly called the broad beech fern, is a common forest

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and adjacent

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. It grows from a creeping rootstock, sending up individual fronds that more or less clump. Its native habitat includes moist, undisturbed, hardwood forests. The fronds are broadly triangular. The specific name ''hexagonoptera'' refers to the winging of leaf tissue along the rachis between the basal pinnae. Sori are small, round and naked. This aspect of the plant has caused it in the past to be placed, at first, in the genus ''

Polypodium ''Polypodium'' is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Polypodioideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). The genus is widely distributed throughout the world, with the highest ...

'', then grouped with genus ''

Dryopteris :''The moth genus ''Dryopteris'' is now considered a junior synonym of '' Oreta. ''Dryopteris'' , commonly called the wood ferns, male ferns (referring in particular to ''Dryopteris filix-mas''), or buckler ferns, is a fern genus in the family D ...

'', then with the genus ''

Thelypteris ''Thelypteris'' (maiden ferns) is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Thelypteridoideae, family Thelypteridaceae, order Polypodiales. Two radically different circumscriptions of the genus are in use . In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classific ...

''. Genetic analysis has shown the genus ''

Phegopteris ''Phegopteris'' is a genus of ferns in the family Thelypteridaceae, subfamily Phegopteridoideae, in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). They are known collectively as the beech ferns. Species are native to Asia, North ...

'' to be a

sister clade In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to the rest of the thelypteroid ferns. Rare hybrids with ''

Phegopteris connectilis ''Phegopteris connectilis'', commonly known as long beech fern, northern beech fern, and narrow beech fern, is a species of fern native to forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike its close relative, ''Phegopteris hexagonoptera'', which is ter ...

'' are known. This fern makes an excellent garden plant, gradually filling in a bed.

References

Thelypteridaceae Flora of North America {{Polypodiales-stub