Family |
Polypodiaceae
Dryopteris pallida
(Bory) Maire & Petitm.
Dryopteris pallida (Bory) Maire & Petitm.
(First published in Bull. Soc. Sci. Nancy, sér. 3, 9: 480; 1908. Treated in Nouv. Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 9; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial fern forming dense tufts; rhizome thick, short, oblique. Fronds numerous, 30 – 80 cm long, firm, pale green, the rachis slightly glandular, bearing a few minute pale-brown scales.
• Leaves: Bipinnatisect with 15 – 20 pairs of primary pinnae (5 – 15 cm), slightly distant at the base; secondary segments 1 – 3 cm long, denticulate to subpinnatifid, sessile toward the tip, subpetiolate at base.
• Sori & indusia: Sori reniform, grouped toward margins and apices of secondary segments; indusia entire, thin, not glandular, persistent. Fertile fronds densely covered beneath by two rows of sori, except along the rachis base where the lamina remains exposed.
• Phenology: Fructifies from spring to autumn.
• Habitat & elevation: Shaded rocks, walls, and moist slopes on various substrates, from the coastal zone to the upper mountains.
• Lebanese distribution: Nahr Aouali, Beirut, Nahr Beirut, Ras Chekka – Hamat, ʿAbey, ʿAley, ʿAraya, Bikfaya, Broummana (type locality), Ghazir, Faytroun, Rayfoun, Douma, Qrayé, Dahr el-Baïdar, Falougha, Sannine–Kneissé, Diman, Qannoubine, Bān, ʿAïtou, Beskinta; also recorded from Qalaʿat el-Hosn, Slenfé, and Jaoubat Bourghal (Syria).
• Native range: Albania, Algeria, Baleares, Corse, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Italy, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Sardegna, Sicilia, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Long confused with Nephrodium rigidum (Hoffm.) Desv. var. australe (Ten.) Briq. and Dryopteris villarsii (Bell.) H. Woynar var. australis (Ten.) Maire, this species is now recognized as distinct by its slightly glandular fronds and marginal sori arrangement. Mouterde proposed a local form, D. pallida var. libanotica (Ros.) comb. nov., for the Levantine populations intermediate between D. pallida and D. libanotica (Ros.) A. Christ.