2. Dryopteris cycadina (Franch. & Sav.) C. Chr. (Index Filicum 260. 1905).— Shaggy wood-fern, black wood-fern.—Fig. 2.

D. hirtipes (Bl.) Kuntze, misapplied

D. atrata (Kunze) Ching, misapplied 

Rhizome erect, stout, infrequently producing offshoots. Stipe stout, to ca. 30-40 cm long, fasciculate, very scaly at the base, less so above, the scales narrowly triangular, 10-15 mm long, dark brown to black, margins sparsely slender toothed, apex attenuate, the rachis scales smaller and narrower, some fibrillose-scaly; blade pinnate, oblong-lanceolate, 50-70 cm long, 20-35 cm wide, pinnae pairs ca. 30, texture thin-leathery; pinnae narrow ovate to long narrow triangular, the base more or less truncate-cordate, sessile or short-petiolate, the margins coarsely serrate to crenate or lobed ca. 1/4-1/3 way to the costa, the serrations broad and often ending in 1 or 2 small teeth, the proximal pinnae sometimes deeply pinnatifid at their base. Sori 2-6 per segment, absent from the marginal and submarginal area; indusia large, entire, persistent. Lower pinnae pair tending to angle forward and often downward from the adaxial surface of blade; pinnae (proximal) often falcate.

Dryopteris cycadina may reach 30-100 cm in height but is usually rather small, the somewhat leathery, sometimes crisped fronds spread and form a whorl, longer fronds may arch slightly. The species is hardy to a January average of 35°F; fronds do not wither and brown quickly but remain green for some time and tend to lie prone on the soil during the winter. The edges and tips of the fronds often abort in more arid climates, otherwise the plant is easily cultivated.

Dryopteris cycadina is an apogamous triploid fern native to Japan and eastern China, where it is abundant on wooded hillsides at ca. 1,400-2,700 m. It may circulate in horticulture as D. hirtipes or D. atrata under which name it was previously known in Japan. All three names have been much confused in the botanical literature as well and the entire group is in need of detailed study. As presently interpreted (Fraser-Jenkins 1989), D. hirtipes is a separate species and D. atrata is one of its subspecies (D. hirtipes ssp. atrata (Kunze) Fraser-Jenk.); it is uncertain that any of these plants is cultivated in the U.S.

It is uncertain if D. hirtipes (Blume) Kunze from Southeast Asia is actually in cultivation. A plant rarely in cultivation and very tentatively identified as D. hirtipes (Figure 3), has been circulating under the misapplied names of D. darjeelingensis Fraser-Jenk. and D. stenolepis (Baker) C. Chr. [D. gamblei(C. Hope) C. Chr.)].

True D. hirtipes is described as having fronds to 60 cm long, the stipe ca. half the length of the blade, the blade with up to 25 pairs of pinnae, and the pinnae margins toothed or lobed, and the sori indusiate. The marginal lobes, varying from shallow to more extended, are usually truncate at their apices and often bear an obtuse tooth at the distal corner. In contrast, D. cycadina has a shorter stipe, ca. 30 pinnae pairs with the pinnae more closely placed and narrower, and the pinnae margins truncate-serrate. These marginal serrations are oblique-falcate with the tooth at the distal corner acute and incurved. The plant in cultivation is hardy in the Seattle, Washington, area, but may not be hardy in colder climates. In southern California gardens it is evergreen, though new growth ceases during the winter and old fronds lay prone on the soil. The tips of unfolding fronds tend to abort in this more arid climate. Young plants are eaten by slugs and snail. Better herbarium specimens and more study are needed to resolve the identity of this cultivated plant.

Another species similar to Dryopteris cycadina is D. commixta Tagawa, and endemic of Japan. It differs by having broader fronds with an herbaceous texture when dry or thicker when fresh, the pinnae stalked, 1-2.5 cm broad, more deeply incised with broader pinnae cut halfway to the costa, usually with 20 or fewer pinnae-pairs, and indusia variable in size, poorly developed. Dryopteris cycadina has, in contrast, narrower fronds with a more leathery texture, the pinnae sessile, 1-2 cm broad, shallowly incised, usually to ca. 30 pinnae-pairs, and the indusia fairly uniform in size. The identification of the currently cultivated material is in doubt.The senior author observed that fronds from submature plants that were received from a grower as D. commixta were indistinguishable from D. cycadina when the plants were mature.

Another garden species similar to Dryopteris cycadina is D. namegatae (Sa. Kurata) Sa. Kurata from Japan and China. It is thought to be a hybrid, as it appears intermediate between D. cycadina and D. dickinsii (the latter discussed under D. kuratae). Dryopteris namegatae is distinguished from D. cycadina by the veins and their branches being depressed below the adaxial surface of the blade and the presence of shorter basal pinnae. On our cultivated plants the proximal pinnae may bear on their acroscopic side next to the rachis a roundish to truncate lobe that may be free nearly to the pinnae midrib. The plant is evergreen as described above in D. hirtipes, and is hardy along the western coast of the U.S., although the frond tips tend to abort in southern California gardens.