What We Do (and Don't) Know About Ferns: <I>Dryopteris</I> (Dryopteridaceae) as a Case Study

Abstract

Abstract-Ferns are the second largest group of vascular land plants after the angiosperms, but remain chronically underrepresented in studies of plant phylogeny, biogeography, physiology, and genomics. The genus Dryopteris, the woodferns, is a large group with a worldwide distribution, and recent research has made it one of the better understood fern genera and a potential model for understanding many aspects of fern biology and evolution. Here we review historical and current understanding of the genus, and outline promising avenues of future research in ferns for which Dryopteris is an ideal study system, particularly for research on polyploid complexes, biogeographic distributions, and physiological ecology.

European Red List of Lycopods and Ferns

“…This is because the taxonomy of Dryopteris has proven to be more complicated since Jalas and Suominen (1972) published their distribution maps. This is in part due to the recognition of novel allopolyploid species, the effects of reticulate evolution (Juslén et al 2011, Sessa et al 2015, hybridisation and apomixis, with the resulting difficulties in finding clear morphological distinctions between closely related species. While there are discrepancies on the status of some taxa, respectively treated as species, subspecies or at lower rank, difficulties to differentiate between similarlooking taxa have led to scanty and unreliable data recording and thus these taxa had to be assessed as DD.…”

Palynological analysis of the genus Dryopteris Adans. (Dryopteridaceae) in Argentina

“…As well as hybridity, the ploidy level has also been studied by different authors in the following species: D. wallichiana has been registered as diploid, apogamic triploid and hexaploid (Tryon & Tryon 1982, Sessa et al 2012a, 2015; D. filix-mas is considered a sexual allotetraploid (Manton 1950, Manton & Walker 1954, Fraser-Jenkins 1976, Lovis 1977, Xiang et al 2006 and D. patula is a diploid species Tryon 1982, Sessa et al 2012a).…”

Into Africa: Molecular phylogenetics and historical biogeography of sub‐Saharan African woodferns (Dryopteris)

“…In the current study, we address this question by inferring the phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography of a large, globally distributed genus of ferns, Dryopteris Adans. Dryopteris is one of the largest genera in the taxonomically and phylogenetically complex family Dryopteridaceae ( Sessa et al, 2015 ). Th e genus consists of 250-350 ( Fraser-Jenkins, 1986 ;Zhang et al, 2012 ) or even 400 ( Wu et al, 2013 ) species, with a primary center of diversity in Eastern Asia ( Wu and Lu, 2000 ;Li and Lu, 2006 ) and secondary centers in the Americas ( Sessa et al, 2012a( Sessa et al, , 2012c( Sessa et al, , 2015, Europe ( Juslén et al, 2011 ), Africa ( Roux, 2011( Roux, , 2012, and the Pacific islands ( Geiger and Ranker, 2005 ).…”

“…Dryopteris is one of the largest genera in the taxonomically and phylogenetically complex family Dryopteridaceae ( Sessa et al, 2015 ). Th e genus consists of 250-350 ( Fraser-Jenkins, 1986 ;Zhang et al, 2012 ) or even 400 ( Wu et al, 2013 ) species, with a primary center of diversity in Eastern Asia ( Wu and Lu, 2000 ;Li and Lu, 2006 ) and secondary centers in the Americas ( Sessa et al, 2012a( Sessa et al, , 2012c( Sessa et al, , 2015, Europe ( Juslén et al, 2011 ), Africa ( Roux, 2011( Roux, , 2012, and the Pacific islands ( Geiger and Ranker, 2005 ). Th e African Dryopteris species composition is relatively well known thanks to a revision of the sub-Saharan species by Roux (2012) and the fact that the northern African fl ora is very similar to that of the Mediterranean area ( Fraser-Jenkins, 1982 ;Dobignard and Chatelain, 2010 ).…”