Flora of North America species comparison

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Cheilanthes alabamensis

Alabama lip fern
Stems

short-creeping to compact, 3–7 mm diam.;

scales uniformly brown or slightly darker at base, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
Leaves

clustered, 6–50 cm;

vernation noncircinate.
Petiole

black, rounded adaxially.
Blade

lanceolate to linear-oblong, 2-pinnate to 2-pinnate-pinnatifid at base, 1–7 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with dimorphic pubescence, abaxially sparsely hirsute, adaxially covered with tortuous, appressed hairs.
Ultimate segments

narrowly elliptic to elongate-deltate, not beadlike, the largest 3–7 mm, abaxially and adaxially sparsely hirsute to glabrescent.
Pinnae

not articulate, dark color of stalk continuing into pinna base, basal pair slightly smaller than adjacent pair, ± equilateral, appearing glabrous or sparsely pubescent adaxially.
False indusia

marginal to obscurely inframarginal, somewhat differentiated, 0.1–0.4 mm wide.
Sori

± continuous around segment margins.
Sporangia

containing 32 spores.
Costae

green adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales absent.
n

= 2n = 87, apogamous.

Cheilanthes alabamensis
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes, cliffs, and ledges, usually on limestone
Elevation 100–2000 m (300–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; NC; NM; OK; TN; TX; VA; Mexico
Discussion

Plants of Cheilanthes alabamensis occurring in the flora are apogamous triploids; a sexual diploid cytotype has been found in Nuevo León, Mexico (M. D. Windham, unpublished). Given the high degree of morphologic similarity between the two cytotypes, the North American triploid probably was derived from the Mexican diploid through autopolyploidy. In the flora, Cheilanthes alabamensis is most often confused with C. microphylla, from which it is distinguished by having thicker stems, mostly green costae, and 32-spored sporangia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Cheilanthes
Sibling taxa
C. aemula, C. arizonica, C. bonariensis, C. clevelandii, C. cooperae, C. covillei, C. eatonii, C. feei, C. fendleri, C. gracillima, C. horridula, C. intertexta, C. kaulfussii, C. lanosa, C. lendigera, C. leucopoda, C. lindheimeri, C. microphylla, C. newberryi, C. parryi, C. pringlei, C. tomentosa, C. villosa, C. viscida, C. wootonii, C. wrightii, C. yavapensis
Synonyms Pteris alabamensis, Pellaea alabamensis
Name authority (Buckley) Kunze: Linnaea 20: 4. (1847)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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