''Deparia acrostichoides'', commonly called silvery glade fern or silvery spleenwort, is a perennial species of

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 ...

. Its range include much of the eastern

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and

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, from

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, and Georgia to

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and eastern

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and

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. The name silvery comes from the fact that the

indusia A sorus (pl. sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) in ferns and fungi. A coenosorus (plural coenosori) is a compound sorus composed of multiple, fused sori. Etymology This New Latin word is from Ancient Gr ...

on the underside of the leaf have a silver color when the sori are close to ripening.

Description

Silvery spleenwort has pinnately divided yellowish green leaves arising from a stout, green, slightly brown hairy and scaly stem. The stem is typically grooved on the upper side, much shorter than the leaf blade and darker colored near its base, being dark red or brown, as the stem reaches the leaflets it becomes a pale green color. The leaves are broadest in the middle with a long pointed tip and tapering base with the lowest pair of leaflets generally pointing downward. The tapering and downward pointed bottom leaves are a diagnostic characteristic for helping to distinguish this fern from similar ferns. The leaves are 30–80 cm long and 10–25 cm in width, their underside is covered in fuzzy yellow-green hairs. There are approximately 18 leaflets on a leaf, these are approximately 15 cm long and 1 cm wide and relatively straight. The leaflets are themselves cut into oblong subleaflets which may have a blunt or rounded tip. The sterile and fertile leaflets are similar in form. The fertile leaves bear sori on the underside of the leaves and are silvery green at first but later become light brown as they ripen. The sori are pinnately arranged on the subleafets in a pattern which follows the veination; they are typically straight or slightly curved with a thick indusia with an entire margin. The fertile pinnae can be described as acrostichoid as the

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cy ...

covers almost the entirety of the underside of the leaf surface. Acrostichoid is also the term from which ''D. acrostichoides'' derives its species name. It often forms extensive colonies, growing from creeping roots. Silvery spleenwort is a common fern in stream bottoms, moist woods, and cool shaded areas throughout its range.

Gallery

Deparia acrostichoides (12840222535).jpg , Showing ripened sori and indusia Deparia acrostichoides 9.jpg, Showing unriped silvery indusia which gives this species its name Gjk-deparia thelypterioides.gif, Leaf shape Deparia acrostichoides.jpg, Stipe texture

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5260083 Athyriaceae Ferns of the United States Flora of Asia Plants described in 1803