Dryopteris cristata

Kammfarn ( Dryopteris cristata )

The Kammfarn even comb male fern ( Dryopteris cristata ) is a rarer representatives from the kind of worm fern ( Dryopteris ), which grows exclusively in marshes, wetlands and swamp forests.

Another common name is of German- occupied for the Tyrol region near Lienz, the term Labassen.

Description

The fronds of the summer green fern are arranged in a loose rosette. They reach a length of about 70 centimeters and a width of only 5-15 centimeters. The leaf sits on a short stalk and is only one, rarely two times pinnate and oval in outline. The leaf and leaflets ending in a blunt tip. Frond with sori are directed strikingly upright; the leaflets are provided by rotation of the stems at right angles to the leaf surface, they are upstanding and its underside is often turned upward. The lower to middle leaflets are remarkably short and triangular in outline.

The Kammfarn has the chromosome number 2n = 164 It is allotetraploid. Two of his four genomes are from the North American species [ Dryopteris ludoviciana ], where the other two genomes originate, is not yet known; but they are probably also involved in the formation of the ordinary Dornfarns.

Occurrence

The Kammfarn occurs in swamp forests, particularly in alder swamps. He is also to be found in various bogs. He likes to get in front on waterlogged soils and is a Kennart the Carici - elongatae - Alnetum. Its total distribution includes the temperate latitudes of Europe, reached the Balkans and the Black Sea and extends across Siberia to North America.

In Germany the Kammfarn is " specially protected " by the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.