Image of Thelypteris limbosperma

Description:

Slo.: navadna krpaa - syn.: Lastera oreopteris (Ehrh) Bory, Oreopteris limbosperma (Allioni) Holub, Polypodium limbospermum All., Dryopteris oreopteris (Ehrh.) Maxon, Nephrodium oreopteris (Ehrh.) Desv., Polystichum oreopteris (Ehrh.) DC. - Habitat: grassland, almost flat terrain, alluvial ground, sunny place, exposed to direct rain; average precipitations 2.000-2.600 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, elevation 320 m (1.050 feet), Dinaric phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Ferns are beautiful plants almost without exception. They are attractive not so much regarding their color but much so because of their delicate, archaic, graphic appearance. Yet, they are not easy to be recognized and be properly named. This requires experience, sensitive eye and good visual memory. Taxonomically all ferns underwent numerous, even radical, changes (look at the names of synonyms above!). Thelypteris limbosperma can be a quite stout plant up to 1.2 m tall. Blades are one-pinnate-pinnatifid, ovate, characteristically tapering at the base. The plant is a deciduous fern (blades deteriorate during winter). It is a widely scattered, Euro-Siberian and North American plant, found also in almost whole Slovenia. But it is not really a common plant in spite of its Slovenian name (navadna => common). It prefers siliceous, acid ground, which is not in abundance in my country. Ref.: (1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 70. (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 237. (3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 93. (4) http://hardyfernlibrary.com/ferns/listSpecies.cfm?Auto=98 (accessed Sept. 28. 2017)