Cheilanthes eatonii
Cheilanthes bonariensis
Eaton's lip fern
Bonaire lip fern, golden lipfern
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 to compact, usually 4–8 mm diam.;
scales bicolored, with broad, well-defined, dark, central stripe and narrow, light brown margins, narrowly lanceolate, slightly contorted, strongly appressed, persistent.
clustered, 6–35 cm;
vernation noncircinate.
clustered, 10–60 cm;
vernation noncircinate.
dark brown, rounded adaxially.
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.
linear, pinnate-pinnatifid throughout, 1–4 cm wide;
rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with dense monomorphic pubescence.
oval to round, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxially pubescent with fine, unbranched hairs or glabrescent.
elongate-deltate to ovate, not especially beadlike, the largest 1–7 mm, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxially hirsute.
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.
articulate at swollen, hirsute nodes, basal pair slightly smaller than adjacent pair, ± equilateral, appearing hirsute adaxially.
marginal to obscurely inframarginal, somewhat differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
± continuous around segment margins.
± continuous around segment margins.
containing 32 spores.
containing 32 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.
absent.
= 2n = 90, 120, apogamous.
= 2n = 90, apogamous.
Cheilanthes eatonii
Cheilanthes bonariensis
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.)
Cheilanthes bonariensis has been assigned to Notholaena in past treatments. It is distantly related (at best) to the species here included in Notholaena, however, and we concur with R. M. Tryon and A. F. Tryon (1982) that it should be transferred to Cheilanthes. Chromosomal studies (G. J. Gastony and M. D. Windham 1989) suggest that C. bonariensis is an apogamous triploid that arose through autopolyploidy. Further investigation is necessary to determine whether 64-spored, sexually reproducing populations of C. bonariensis are still extant.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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