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Spinulose Woodfern (Toothed Woodfern)
Dryopteris carthusiana (Dryopteris spinulosa)
• Family: Dryopteridaceae
• Habitat: moist or wet woods, swamps
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Location of spores: underside of frond
• Stipe (leaf stalk): green with light brown scales
• Growth pattern: asymmetric clump
• Persistence: deciduous
Underside of a frond, showing the sori (spore-bearing structures) located at the tips of veins.
Spinulose woodfern and intermediate woodfern look fairly similar. One way to distinguish them is to look at the lowest pair of leaflets (pinnae). On spinulose woodfern, the lower subleaflets (pinules) closest to the main stalk are longer than the next set further out. On intermediate woodfern, the second set out from the main stalk is usually the longest.