''Coryphopteris simulata'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

''Thelypteris simulata'', is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

native to the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

. It is known by two

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s: bog-fern and Massachusetts fern. It is often confused with the silvery spleenwort, New York fern, and the

marsh fern ''Thelypteris palustris'', the marsh fern, or eastern marsh fern, is a species of fern native to eastern North America and across Eurasia. It prefers to grow in swamps, bogs, wet fields or thickets, fresh tidal and nontidal marshes, or wooded str ...

due to similarities in shape and size.

Description

''Coryphopteris simulata'' is bright green in color. The frond has some variation in shape, but it is around 61 cm (24 in) long, and its stalk is long and slender at 20.3 cm (8 in). The stalks are thin and slightly scaly, or hairy. The upwards portion is yellow-green in color, and the base is a light brown color. The leaves are monomorphic and pinnately compounded; they can be between 10 and 40 cm (3.9-15.7 in) long and 7.6-15.3 cm (3–6 in) wide. The branching pattern appears to be opposite, but upon close observation it is clearly a slight alternate pattern. The leaf veins are for the most part unbranched, although some branching can be seen towards the lower part of the blade. BB-0039 Dryopteris simulata

''Coryphopteris simulata'' produces both fertile and sterile leaflets. The leaflets are twice-compounded and divided mid-vein into between fifteen and eighteen lobes. They are oblong in shape and become narrower near the axis, noticeably more so near the base. The majority of the leaflets are erect, but the bottom pair point downward. They are around 25–80 cm (9.8-31.5 in) long. The fertile and sterile leaflets are similar in shape in size, but the fertile leaflets tend to be slightly longer than the sterile leaflets. Sori (singular

sorus A sorus (: sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) in ferns and fungi. A coenosorus (: coenosori) is a compound sorus composed of multiple, fused sori. Etymology This Neo-Latin word is from Ancient Greek � ...

), are found on the underside of the leaflets, and they are round in shape. The indusium is a pale tan color and is shaped like a kidney. The rhizome is slender and black with some scales. It spreads out far and has a lot of branching. Older roots are short, black, thin, and wiry. There are many young, hairlike rootlets.

Growth

''Coryphopteris simulata'' is a

forb A forb or phorb is a herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in botany and in vegetation ecology especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically, these are eudicots without woo ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

. The shoot system sprouts up from a

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

, which is typically an underground root, but is sometimes found at the ground level. The leaves die and fall off during the wintertime. Spores are produced in the summertime.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

George Edward Davenport George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

in 1894 as ''Aspidium simulatum'' (in the same publication he also suggested that "those persons who reject ''Aspidium''" could use the synonym ''Nephrodium simulatum''). Genus boundaries in the family

Thelypteridaceae Thelypteridaceae is a family of about 900 species of ferns in the order Polypodiales. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is placed in the suborder Aspleniineae. Alternatively, the family may be submerged in a ...

have been subject to regular changes; the species has also been placed in ''

Thelypteris ''Thelypteris'' (maiden ferns) is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Thelypteridoideae, family Thelypteridaceae, order Polypodiales. Two radically different circumscriptions of the genus are in use . In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classifi ...

'' (1910), '' Parathelypteris'' (1976) and more recently ''Coryphopteris'' (2018). , ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' accepted the placement in ''Thelypteris'', while the ''Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World'' accepted the placement in ''Coryphopteris''. One distinguishing feature is the sweet-smelling fragrance it emits. Since it has similarities to the

, New York fern, and silvery spleenwort, people often fail to notice its existence, and have difficulty distinguishing it from the other similar ferns. There is still some confusion today, as this species is relatively uncommon and its shape can be variable.

Distribution

''Coryphopteris simulata'' is a

terrestrial plant A terrestrial plant is a plant that grows on, in or from land. Other types of plants are aquatic plant, aquatic (living in or on water), semiaquatic (living at edge or seasonally in water), epiphyte, epiphytic (living on other plants), and litho ...

native to

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (, also the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/ Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newf ...

(New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Québec), the North-Central United States (Wisconsin), the

(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia) and the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

(Alabama, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia). The isolated patch discovered in southwestern Wisconsin was far outside its expected distribution. Generally speaking, this plant is uncommon.

Ecology

''Coryphopteris simulata'' grows in shaded, marshy

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

areas such as cedar,

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

, and sphagnum

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. It likes to grow among

bryophyte Bryophytes () are a group of embryophyte, land plants (embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic Division (taxonomy), division referred to as Bryophyta ''Sensu#Common qualifiers, sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular pla ...

s, particularly ''

Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

''. It prefers and is most often found in moist, acidic

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

that is soft and spongy.

References

{{Authority control Thelypteridaceae Plants described in 1894 Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of Wisconsin Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States