Struthiopteris spicant
(L.) Weiss · speciesAt a glance
Sources8 archives
Databases and archives Struthiopteris spicant's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation12 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility69 712 records↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Struthiopteris spicant, syn. Blechnum spicant, is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae, known by the common names hard-fern or deer fern. It is native to Europe, western Asia, northern Africa, and western North America. Like some other species in the family Blechnaceae, it has two types of leaves. The sterile leaves have flat, wavy-margined leaflets 5 to 8 millimeters wide, while the fertile leaves have much narrower leaflets, each with two thick rows of sori on the underside. The Latin specific epithet spicant is of uncertain origin, possibly referring to a tufted or spiky habit. S. spicant is hardy down to -20 C and evergreen, growing to 0.5 m. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The species was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus as Osmunda spicant. It has been placed in a wide range of genera, including Blechnum (as Blechnum spicant). In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is placed in the genus Struthiopteris, in the subfamily Blechnoideae. A sterile leaf A fertile leaf with sori
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction2
Habitat & environment3
Physiology & chemistry3
Other traits1
Compounds documented for Struthiopteris spicant across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds18 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (2S,3R)-4-[(E)-2-carboxyethenyl]-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-7-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-3-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| (2S,3R)-4-[(Z)-2-carboxyethenyl]-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-7-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-3-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| (3R,4R,5R)-5-[(2S,3R)-4-[(E)-2-carboxyethenyl]-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-7-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-3-carbonyl]oxy-3,4-dihydroxycyclohexene-1-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| (R)-nonacosan-10-ol | present | LOTUS | |
| 3-(3,4-Dihydroxyphenyl)Prop-2-Enoic Acid | present | LOTUS | |
| 5-O-Caffeoylshikimic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| Cryptoxanthin | present | LOTUS | |
| Decanoic acid | present | NPASS | |
| Lutein | present | LOTUS | |
| Lutein 5,6-epoxide | present | LOTUS |
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 Struthiopteris spicant has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
The complete instruction manual Struthiopteris spicant 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.
2n 6818×CCDB · brit-fl · CCDB · nw-europe-fl · CCDB · fl-europaea +4
n 348×CCDB · book-ipcn65 · CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 +2
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
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.
Record type69 712 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
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.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions43 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 |
|---|---|
| BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record | 251 |
| Zürich, CH | 196 |
| Pullman, US | 192 |
| Zürich, CH | 189 |
| Corvallis, US | 68 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 41 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 41 |
| Bronx, US | 29 |
| South Kensington, GB | 18 |
| Helsinki, FI | 17 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 14 |
| Karlsruhe, DE | 14 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 13 |
| McWane Science Centerlocation not on record | 12 |
| Oulu, FI | 12 |
| Madrid, ES | 11 |
| Portland, US | 10 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 10 |
| GBS RAN - Glavny Botanichesky Sad Rossijskoj Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 10 |
| DOI/NPS, Mount Rainier National Parklocation not on record | 9 |
| Davis, US | 9 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 7 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 7 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 6 |
| Paris, FR | 6 |
| Turku, FI | 6 |
| Tampere, FI | 6 |
| Kuopio, FI | 4 |
| San Luis Obispo, US | 4 |
| Ashland, US | 4 |
| Chicago, US | 4 |
| Cheney, US | 3 |
| Moscow, US | 3 |
| Tilburg, NL | 3 |
| Austin, US | 3 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 3 |
| Pittsburg, US | 2 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 2 |
| Salvador, BR | 2 |
| Bourges, FR | 2 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 2 |
| Burlington, US | 2 |
| Bend, US | 1 |
| Vancouver, CA | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
| Muséum Henri Lecoqlocation not on record | 1 |
| Porvoo, FI | 1 |
| Wlocation not on record | 1 |
| Saint Louis, US | 1 |
| Pacific Lutheran Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 1 |
| Bangkok, TH | 1 |
| Morgantown, US | 1 |
| Denver, US | 1 |
| GJOlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 1 |
| Tuscaloosa, US | 1 |
| Philadelphia, US | 1 |
| Montréal, CA | 1 |
| CASlocation not on record | 1 |
| Dekalb, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.