The southern woodfern Dryopteris ✕ australis is the aborted-spore backcross hybrid of the allotetraploid D. celsa with one of its parents, D. ludoviciana. From previous reports, this hybrid is known to occur at several localities with D. celsa well north of the present range of D. ludoviciana. Examination of vigorous clones, misidentified as D. celsa, in southeastern Virginia and southeastern Tennessee has resulted in their identification as D. ✕ australis based on morphology, aborted spores, chromosome counts, and isoenzyme profiles. Although both localities are within the range of D. celsa, the hybrids are several miles from the nearest known D. celsa populations and much farther from the nearest known D. ludoviciana site. Their occurrence may be due either to local hybridization, probably involving dispersed spores, or to functioning of viable unreduced spores by D. ✕ australis itself.