Format: ORAL

Alison Evans1, Libor Ekrt2, Roger Golding, Sven Batke1, Paul Ashton1 .

1 Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK 2 University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

The scaly male ferns of the Dryopteris affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenk. complex cause problems for taxonomists because of their hybrid origins and partly apomictic, partly sexual methods of reproduction. The work presented is part of a larger study of this complex in the UK and Ireland, combining morphometrics and flow cytometry. Dryopteris pseudocomplexa, previously known informally as morphotype Arranensis, was published by Fraser-Jenkins as a subspecies of D. cambrensis, with records on Skye, Arran, and two locations in Ireland. In 2016 it was discovered to be a fertile tetraploid. It was published by Sell as a species. There are also reports of a similar fertile tetraploid taxon from the Hrz mountains, the Vosges, and from Romania. Dryopteris pseudodisjuncta was first discovered in the UK in 2008, in Kirkbean Glen, Scotland, where there are also records of D. pseudocomplexa. It has subsequently been found on Arran and at Strome ferry, Scotland, where D. pseudocomplexa is also recorded, and in Cumbria and Somerset. D. pseudodisjuncta is a triploid apomict, and also produces male gametes that can hybridise with sexual species. Results of the morphometric analysis, and the current distribution of these two taxa in the UK and Ireland will be presented, together with identification guides to distinguish these taxa from other scaly male ferns. Samples for DNA sequencing from this study will be provided for a study led by Michael Kessler, Zurich, which may reveal whether these two taxa are related. Alternatively they may occur together because of their preference for an Atlantic climate.