Cheilanthes eatonii
Cheilanthes aemula
Eaton's lip fern
rival lipfern, Texas lip fern
compact, 4–8 mm diam.;
scales mostly bicolored, with broad, well-defined, dark, central stripe and narrow, light brown margins, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
short-creeping, usually 4–7 mm diam.;
scales uniformly brown or slightly darker at base, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
clustered, 6–35 cm;
vernation noncircinate.
clustered, 10–50 cm;
vernation noncircinate.
dark brown, rounded adaxially.
black to dark brown, rounded adaxially.
oblong-lanceolate, 3–4-pinnate at base, 1.5–5 cm wide;
rachis rounded adaxially, with scattered linear-lanceolate scales and monomorphic pubescence.
ovate-deltate, 3-pinnate to 3-pinnate-pinnatifid at base, 4–15 cm wide;
rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with dimorphic pubescence, abaxially sparsely hirsute, adaxially covered with tortuous, appressed hairs.
oval to round, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxially pubescent with fine, unbranched hairs or glabrescent.
narrowly elliptic to elongate-deltate, not beadlike, the largest 3–6 mm, abaxially and adaxially sparsely hirsute to glabrescent.
not articulate, dark color of stalk continuing into pinna base, basal pair not conspicuously larger than adjacent pair, usually equilateral, appearing tomentose to glabrescent adaxially.
not articulate, dark color of stalk continuing into pinna base, basal pair slightly larger than adjacent pair, somewhat inequilateral, proximal basiscopic pinnules conspicuously enlarged, appearing glabrous or sparsely pubescent adaxially.
marginal to obscurely inframarginal, somewhat differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
marginal, slightly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
± continuous around segment margins.
somewhat discontinuous, often concentrated on interrupted lateral lobes.
containing 32 spores.
containing 64 spores.
green adaxially for most of length;
abaxial scales multiseriate, lanceolate to linear, truncate or subcordate at base, without overlapping basal lobes, conspicuous, the largest 0.4–0.7 mm wide, loosely imbricate, not concealing ultimate segments, erose-dentate, rarely with 1–2 cilia at base on a few scales.
black adaxially for most of length;
abaxial scales absent.
= 2n = 90, 120, apogamous.
= 58.
Cheilanthes eatonii
Cheilanthes aemula
As here circumscribed, Cheilanthes eatonii is a variable species comprising apogamous triploid and tetraploid cytotypes of unknown parentage. It includes plants previously identified as C. castanea and C. pinkavii (ined.). Type specimens of C. eatonii and C. castanea are quite distinct morphologically, but most plants here included within C. eatonii are intermediate between these two extremes (T. Reeves 1979). Because there is no clear morphologic break, C. castanea is placed here in synonymy under C. eatonii pending further study. Reports of hybridization between C. eatonii and C. villosa (D. B. Lellinger 1985) are based on specimens from western Texas and southern New Mexico that appear to be intermediate between these taxa in several characters. T. Reeves (1979) applied the name C. pinkavii to these specimens; that name has never been validly published. Formal recognition of this taxon is deferred pending completion of a biosystematic study of the C. eatonii complex as a whole.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In addition to the characteristics mentioned in the key, Cheilanthes aemula is distinguished from North American populations of C. alabamensis by having 64 spores per sporangium rather than 32. In the flora, this species is known from about 10 localities in central and western Texas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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