Dryopteris filix-mas
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
male fern
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Ferns
Detailed description
Stout rhizomatous fern. Laminae bipinnate up to 125 x 30 cm, dark green above, paler green below. Primary pinnae in 25–50 pairs, secondary pinnae in 15–30 pairs. Sori round, 1–5 pairs on each secondary pinnae.
Similar taxa
Dryopteris is closely related to Polystichium and Lastreopsis, but distinguished from Polystichum by the kidney-shaped indusia, and from Lastreopsis by its abundance of stipe-scales and absence of hairs. D. filix-mas is closely related to D. affinis but can be distinguished by the second pinnae being round-ended and margins toothed throughout.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Streamsides, open scrub, damp forest.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
Europe, Asia, N. America
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Reproduces sexually from spores.
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
DRYFIL