Flora of North America species comparison

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Cheilanthes feei

slender lip fern
Stems

compact to short-creeping, usually 4–8 mm diam.;

scales often uniformly brown but at least some on each plant with well-defined, dark, central stripe, linear-lanceolate, slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
Leaves

clustered, 4–20 cm;

vernation circinate.
Petiole

dark brown to black, rounded adaxially.
Blade

linear-oblong to lanceolate, 3-pinnate at base, 1–3 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with dense monomorphic pubescence.
Ultimate segments

round to slightly oblong, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially densely villous with long, segmented hairs, adaxially sparsely hirsute to glabrescent.
Pinnae

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

marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.20 mm wide.
Sori

± continuous around segment margins.
Sporangia

containing 32 spores.
Costae

brown adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales absent.
n

= 2n = 90, apogamous.

Cheilanthes feei
Phenology Sporulating late spring–fall.
Habitat Calcareous cliffs and ledges, usually on limestone or sandstone
Elevation 100–3800 m (300–12500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; IL; KS; KY; MN; MO; MT; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; VA; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Cheilanthes feei is an apogamous triploid of unknown parentage. It has small, beadlike blade segments similar to those of subg. Physapteris, but most morphological characteristics suggest a clear relationship to members of subg. Cheilanthes (T. Reeves 1979). The species is most often confused with C. parryi, from which it can be distinguished by its thinner, sparser pubescence and smaller ultimate segments.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Cheilanthes
Sibling taxa
C. aemula, C. alabamensis, C. arizonica, C. bonariensis, C. clevelandii, C. cooperae, C. covillei, C. eatonii, 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
Name authority T. Moore: Index Fil. 38. (1857)
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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