Comparison of morphological and molecular biological identification of Dryopteridaceae plants in Jeju Island

A variety of native ferns are spontaneously growing in Jeju Island, due to its warm climate and geographical characteristics as the southernmost volcanic island of Korea. Although ferns contain various bioactive substances, research on fern classification has been limited because they are morphologically difficult to identify. This study was conducted to establish an accurate classification system for ferns in Jeju Island. From 2020 to 2023, plants belonging to the family Dryopteridaceae in Jeju Island were collected and the results of morphological identification based on the characteristics recorded in the literature were compared with those obtained from molecular biological identification using DNA sequence analysis. Among the total of 53 species from 4 genera of ferns collected, 37 species showed consistency between morphological and molecular biological identification, while 17 species did not. Based on this study, a reestablishment of the classification system for plants belonging to the family Dryopteridaceae plants in Jeju Island is suggested.