Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Dryopteris filix-mas [ Lastrea filix-mas] [Thelypteris filix-mas] [Aspidium filix-mas] [Aspidium nemorale] etc.
- Family
- Dryopteridaceae
- CommonName
- male fern, male wood fern, worm fern
- Presence
- yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1986
- LatestDate
- 1989
- Ecosystem
- foothill, montane
- Geobotanical
- Garitas, SSanjuans, LBasin
- Counties
- Conejos, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- WildlifePreserves
- Other Localities
- PhotoRecords
- Comments
- NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Male wood fern has been vouchered from three locations in the Watershed: one mile north of Rock Creek Park, rare, in vertical cracks of outcrop (Rio Grande Co, 1986); between north and south Pinyon Hills in volcanic dike outcrops (Conejos Co, 1986); and Penitente Canyon, in Pinyon-juniper canyon, two miles west of La Garita (Saguache Co, 1989). Note that BONAP (2025) does not accept the last. In the USA, Dryopteris filix-mas is found in all the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain states, as well as uncommonl in the Pacific coast states, the Great Lakes states, and the New England states. The species follows the Rio Grande drainage solidly through New Mexico (including all the counties bordering the Watershed), with a number of occurrences in the Davis Mountains of Jeff Davis, Co Texas. Note that the common name "male fern" derives directly from the specific name Linnaeus gave it, "filix-mas," "mas" referring not to the gender of the plant but to its robust growth, contrasting with the another species, "filix-femina." "Wood fern" derives from the outmoded notion that the species cures worms in people.
- Annotation