Phegopteris connectilis (Michaux) Watt. Northern Beech Fern. Phen: Apr-Aug. Hab: Moist cliffs where wet by spray from waterfalls (at medium elevations), also on high elevation cliffs wet by seepage and in spruce-fir forests, northward in cool ravines and on swamp borders. Most of the occurrences in NC are at waterfalls in the escarpment gorges of Transylvania, Macon, and Jackson counties, near Highlands. Dist: A circumboreal species, at its southern limit in North America in MD, WV, OH, IL, IA, MT, and OR; disjunct southward in w. NC and e. TN, and in CO.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: The species is a triploid, reproducing apogamously.

Synonymy: = K4, Gilman (2020), Patel, Fawcett, & Gilman (2019); < Dryopteris phegopteris (L.) C.Chr. – F; < Phegopteris connectilis (Michx.) Watt – FNA2, Il, K1, K3, NE, NY, Pa, Tn, WV, Fawcett & Smith (2021), Lin et al (2013); < Phegopteris phegopteris (L.) Keyserl. – Sf; < Phegopteris polypodioides Fée – Tat; < Thelypteris phegopteris (L.) Sloss. – C, G, RAB, W

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Midwest: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily ?: 2