<i>Dryopteris melanocarpa</i> (Dryopteridaceae), a new record of a fern species among the Korean flora of Jejudo Island

Abstract

&lt;i&gt;Dryopteris melanocarpa&lt;/i&gt; Hayata is an unrecorded perennial monilophyte species in Korea that belongs to the genus &lt;i&gt;Dryopteris&lt;/i&gt; of Dryopteridaceae. It was initially found to grow wild in a cave on Daerok Mountain, Jejudo Island and has been known to grow spontaneously only in Taiwan and Japan thus far. This species is morphologically very similar to &lt;i&gt;D. sparsa&lt;/i&gt; (D. Don) Kuntze and &lt;i&gt;D. subexaltata&lt;/i&gt; (Christ) C. Chr. However, &lt;i&gt;D. melanocarpa&lt;/i&gt; is distinguished from those related taxa in that the stipe scale shape is broadly lanceolate and its lamina is triangularly lanceolate and herbaceous. In this study, in order to identify the &lt;i&gt;D. melanocarpa&lt;/i&gt;, which was found on Jejudo Island, morphological and molecular analyses were conducted.