Cystopteris alpina is a fern in the family Cystopteridaceae. It is closely related to C. fragilis and has been treated as conspecific with that species by many authors.Jonsell B (ed). (2000). "Flora Nordica: Volume 1 - Lycopodiacea to Polygonaceae".Bergius Foundation, Stockholm However, according to the Flora of North America, it is an allopolyploid species of hybrid origin, with Cystopteris montana as one probable parent. It is known to hybridise with C. fragilis in Scandinavia and intermediate plants possibly of hybrid origin are known from North Wales.Tennant DJ. (2010). “The British records of Cystopteris alpina (Lamarck) Desvaux; Woodsiaceae”. Watsonia 28: 57-63
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: 0.24 m · LEDA: 0.24 m · TRY: 0.1 m
Plant height max0.2 m
Plant height min0.05 m
Life cycle & reproduction6
Deciduousnessevergreen
Flowering endOct
Flowering startJul
Life formrhizomatous geophyte
Life spanperennial
Raunkiær life formcryptophyte
Habitat & environment4
Aquaticterrestrial
Climatetemperate
Growth formherb
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · TRY: fern
Woodinessnon-woody
Physiology & chemistry2
Leaf n45.85 mg/g
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
03Chemical composition2 compounds
Compounds documented for Cystopteris alpina across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile1 class
Plant xanthones2
Documented compounds2 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
Isomangiferin
present
LOTUS
Mangiferol
present
LOTUS
05DNA & barcoding9 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Cystopteris alpina has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens9
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences7
eDNA detections4
Countries3
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK6★rbcL1★rbcLa★ITS1★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualCystopteris alpina carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosomes2n = 252 n = 126
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin0.11 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 566 records
Wild obs. + sensor5 696
Museum / vouchered778
Other92
Origin
Native1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO8 196 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy45% within 1 km
≤100 m 970≤1 km 1 149≤10 km 2 542>10 km 29
4 690 georeferenced · 1 006 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor5 696
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy54% within 1 km
≤100 m 101≤1 km 199≤10 km 244>10 km 10
554 georeferenced · 224 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence778
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions32 of 61 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
133
TROMlocation not on record
121
Salzburg, AT
107
BFLlocation not on record
46
Olocation not on record
39
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
34
BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record
32
Trondheim, NO
30
GJOlocation not on record
17
Institut und Museum fuer Geologie und Palaeontologielocation not on record
16
Glarus, CH
15
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
15
Bern, CH
15
LDlocation not on record
13
CJBGlocation not on record
13
Zürich, CH
12
Oskarshamn, SE
9
Staatliches Museum fuer Naturkunde Karlsruhe (State Museum of Natural History)location not on record
9
San Sebastián, ES
8
South Kensington, GB
7
Dresden, DE
5
Auckland, NZ
4
Porrentruy, CH
4
Tromso University Museumlocation not on record
4
Lausanne, CH
3
BioFokuslocation not on record
3
nbflocation not on record
3
Uppsala, SE
3
Mlocation not on record
3
Philadelphia, US
3
Paris, FR
2
ER Hellerlocation not on record
2
SZUlocation not on record
2
Sion, CH
2
Görlitz, DE
2
Philadelphia, US
2
Moscow State Universitylocation not on record
2
Minia, EG
2
Zürich, CH
1
Frankfurt am Main
1
Berlin, DE
1
H-Schuhwlocation not on record
1
University of Salzburglocation not on record
1
GZUlocation not on record
1
Bourges, FR
1
Santiago de Compostela, ES
1
University of Silesia in Katowicelocation not on record
1
Stockholm, SE
1
Boumlocation not on record
1
Umeå Universitylocation not on record
1
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
1
Chicago, US
1
Dhaka, BD
1
Muséum Henri Lecoqlocation not on record
1
Taipei, TW
1
Madrid, ES
1
WTUlocation not on record
1
Karlsruhe, DE
1
València, ES
1
BClocation not on record
1
Frauenfeld, CH
1
61 institutions · 765 of 778 vouchered records shown · 12 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA4 detections
Where the DNA of Cystopteris alpina was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found4
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 4 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median9.50 °C 4.80–12.6
Seasonal swing summer↔winter21.7 °C
Max temp (day)11.2 °C 7.60–14.4
Min temp (night)5.50 °C 1.10–8.30
Precipitation110 mm/mo 75.0–135
Air humidity64.8 % 63.1–68.5
Moisture balance37.2 mm/mo 14.4–57.1
Vapour deficit402 Pa 333–535
Wind speed4.70 m/s 3.00–5.30
Cloud cover63.6 % 55.0–64.5
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 4 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility6 566 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI4 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics9 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗