Dryopteris ludoviciana (Kunze) Small. Southern Woodfern. Phen: Jun-Sep. Hab: Blackwater swamp forests, hammocks, baygalls. Dist: A Southeastern Coastal Plain species: e. NC south to s. FL, west to s. AL, s. MS (Sorrie & Leonard 1999), and e. LA; disjunct in the West Gulf Coastal Plain of LA and AR (Peck 2011), and possibly disjunct in sc. KY, the report old and somewhat uncertain.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Taxonomy Comments: This species is one of the diploid "parent species" of the e. North American reticulately-evolved Dryopteris complex. Its genome (symbolized LL) forms half of the genome of the tetraploids D. cristata and D. celsa, as well as contributing one third of the genome of D. clintoniana indirectly (via its daughter species D. cristata).
Synonymy: = Ar, ETx1, Fl1, FNA2, K1, K3, K4, RAB, Sf, TxFerns, WH3, Montgomery & Paulton (1981); = n/a – C; ? Dryopteris floridana (Hook.) Kuntze – S13
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