''Amauropelta noveboracensis'', the New York fern, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

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 ...

found throughout the eastern United States and Canada, from Louisiana to Newfoundland, but most concentrated within

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

and the

Atlantic Northeast , settlement_type = Region , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_alt = , image_seal = , seal_ ...

. New York ferns often forms spreading colonies within the forests they inhabit.

Description

This fern grows in clumps of three or more fronds along a dark brown, slightly scaly

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

. The frond is held on a stipe which is 20% of the length of the leaf and brown at the base but becoming green as it approaches the leaflets. The stipe is typically covered in brown scales at the base and finely hairy farther up. The leaf is overall long, yellow-green, rather soft and thin in texture, and tapers at either end with the lowest 4-10 leaflets being generally smaller than those above. The leaf is divided into approximately 20

pinnae The auricle or auricula is the visible part of the ear that is outside the head. It is also called the pinna (Latin for "wing" or " fin", plural pinnae), a term that is used more in zoology. Structure The diagram shows the shape and location ...

or leaflets, these leaflets are deeply cut into smaller, oblong and rounded subleaflets. It produces both fertile and sterile fronds—the fertile fronds are larger and more upright, and produce a few small, round sori near the margins, but not touching the margins, of the pinnae. These sori are covered by a tan, hairy, 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 ...

. It is distinctive by its pinnae tapering to the base of the frond, and by its forming extensive clonal colonies on ridgetops and mountain benches. The only other native species in this area with similarly tapering pinnae is the

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 ...

, which generally grows in

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

habitats and is much taller (up to ). The only other species that forms as extensive clonal colonies is the hay-scented fern. Unlike the hay-scented fern, New York fern grows along a dark brown, slightly scaly trailing

s, for comparison, hay-scented fern grows along a smooth rhizome with only one frond arising at a node. Hay-scented fern also has leaflets which are much more finely cut or jagged on the edges whereas New York fern typically has smooth rounded edges to its leaflets. File:Thelypteris noveboracensis34.jpg, Showing leaflet structure File:New york fern 01.jpg, Showing the colonial habit

Ecology

New York fern is common in sunny patches caused by canopy gaps in mixed woodlands, near vernal seeps, at the edge of swamps, in wooded ravines, and along streams. Once soil pH levels decline below 4.1, this fern can become a dominant understory species. In such situations, it may out-compete the seedlings of certain tree species, some of which are commercially important. The seedlings of ''

Prunus serotina ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the g ...

'' are especially vulnerable, as the fern releases an allelopathic

phenol Phenol (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bonded to a hydroxy group (). Mildly acidic, it req ...

which can kill them. This fern is a wetland indicator, and an endangered species in Illinois.

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q15345649, from2=Q7781153, from3=Q21877109 Thelypteridaceae Flora of the United States Flora of Canada Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus