''Dryopteris goldieana'', commonly called Goldie's wood fern, or giant wood fern is a fern native to the eastern United States and adjacent areas of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, from New Brunswick to Ontario and Georgia. It is the largest native North American species of ''Dryopteris'' and along with

ostrich fern ''Matteuccia'' is a genus of ferns with one species: ''Matteuccia struthiopteris'' (common names ostrich fern, fiddlehead fern, or shuttlecock fern). The species epithet ''struthiopteris'' comes from Ancient Greek words () "ostrich" and () "fer ...

it is one of the largest ferns in eastern North America. Specimens are known with fronds six feet (1.8 meters) tall. ''D. goldieana'' hybridizes with many other species of ''Dryopteris'' and the hybrids tend to be larger than the pure species. It was named by William Hooker in honor of its discoverer, John Goldie. The epithet was originally published as ''goldiana'', but this is regarded as a misspelling to be corrected.

Description

Goldie's fern is common in moist rich woods, ravines, seeps, or at the edges of swamps and in areas with full or partial shade. It grows in a clumped form where all the leave emerge from the same point on the ground. The stipe, the division of stem which emerges from the roots and holds no leaflets, is ''very'' densely covered in dark brown to black scales (which may have a tan border) toward the base and decreases in scale density as it approaches the area containing the leaflets. The stipe itself is 1/3 the length of the total leaf, flat or slightly channeled on the upper side and dark brown to nearly black at the base and fades to green distally. The axis, or portion of the stem which actually supports the leaflets is green and also covered in pale scales. The leaf itself rather thick in texture but not evergreen. It may range from dark green to golden green color. The leaves may be 35–120 cm in length and 15–40 cm in width depending on the specimen. The base of the leaf is not strongly tapering and the bottom leaflets are only slightly smaller than the leaflets directly above them. The tip of the leaf is rather short or abruptly tapering which is a distinctive characteristic to help distinguish this fern from similar species. The tip of the leaf may also be white mottled in some specimens. The leaf is broken up into many pairs of leaflets which are mostly pinnate but some at the bottom of the leaf may be

bipinnate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

ly divided. The leaflets are typically tapering at both the base and the tip and have a short stem connecting them to the main stem. The leaflets are themselves divided into many subleaflets which are oblong or elliptic in shape with a pointed tip and a toothed edge. They are generally curved such that the tip of the leaflets points toward the tip of the leaflet. Dryopteris goldiana7

The shapes of fertile (bearing spores and sori) and sterile (lacking spores) leaflets are identical. The sori are typically placed near the midvein and are covered in a smooth, kidney shaped

indusium 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 ...

. Each fertile leaflet contains 6–8 pairs of sori which are paired across the midvein. In midsummer the spores turn brown and ripen and are released into the wind. It is one of the parents of the polyploid hybrids ''

Dryopteris celsa ''Dryopteris celsa'', the log fern, is a perennial fern in the family Dryopteridaceae. It naturally occurs on rotting logs and the rich soil of swamps and wet woodlands. Its native range includes the southeastern United States. References

...

'' and ''

Dryopteris clintoniana ''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 ''Dryopte ...

''.

Cultivation

Goldie's fern requires medium sunlight or shade and high humidity conditions to thrive along with moist soil with an abundance of organic matter. It also requires protection from wind.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5309780 goldieana Ferns of Canada Ferns of the United States Plants described in 1822 Taxa named by Asa Gray Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker Least concern flora of North America