Leaves monomorphic, dying back in winter, 35--120 × 15--40 cm. Petiole 1/3 length of leaf, scaly at base; scales scattered, dark, glossy brown to nearly black, with pale border. Blade green, often white-mottled at tip, ovate, tapering abruptly at apex, pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate at base, herbaceous, not glandular. Pinnae parallel to plane of blade, ovate-lanceolate, broadest above base; basal pinnae broadly oblong-lanceolate, slightly reduced, basal pinnule equal to adjacent pinnules, basal basiscopic pinnule and basal acroscopic pinnule equal; pinnule margins crenulate or serrate. Sori nearer midvein than margin. Indusia and axes lacking glands. 2 n = 82. Dense, moist woods, especially ravines, limey seeps, or at the edge of swamps; 50--1500 m; N.B., Ont., Que.; Ala., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis. Dryopteris goldiana is diploid and is one of the parents of D . celsa and of D . clintoniana . Dryopteris goldiana hybridizes with five species. Hybrids can be identified by the glossy dark scales and large blade size. A remarkable additional hybrid (× Dryostichum singulare W. H. Wagner), involving this species and Polystichum lonchitis , is known from Gray and Simcoe counties, Ontario. It is intermediate between the parents and is sterile (W. H. Wagner Jr., F. S. Wagner et al. 1992).

Rhizome mostly ascending or erect; lvs semi- evergreen, 7.5-12 dm, the petiole to 4 dm, densely scaly at the base, the subentire scales 1-2 cm, lance- attenuate, tending to be dark brown medially and paler marginally; blade ovate, 2-3.5 dm wide, abruptly acuminate, not much narrowed below, pinnate-pinnatifid, eglandular, the rachis and costae with some pale narrow scales; pinnae 12-16 pairs below the pinnatifid tip, oblong-lanceolate, mostly 3-4.5 cm wide, subsessile, the larger ones with 15-20 pairs of segments, the larger segments 15-30 נ6-9 mm, incurved- serrate or -biserrate, the teeth spinulose; lower basal segment of the lowest pinna shorter than the second segment; veins mostly 7-10 pairs per segment, mostly twice-forked, sori near the midvein of the segments; 2n=82. Moist woods in rich circumneutral soil; N.B. to s. Ont. and Minn., s. to S.C., n. Ga., Tenn., and Io. A rare hybrid with Polystichum lonchitis in Ont. has been named Dryostichum سimpsonii W. H. Wagner.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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