Cheilanthes lanosa
Cheilanthes eatonii
hairy lip fern
Eaton's lip fern
compact to short-creeping, usually 4–8 mm diam.;
scales often uniformly brown but at least some on each plant with thin, poorly defined, dark, central stripe, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
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.
clustered, 7–50 cm;
vernation circinate.
clustered, 6–35 cm;
vernation noncircinate.
dark brown, rounded adaxially.
dark brown, rounded adaxially.
linear-oblong to lanceolate, usually 2-pinnate-pinnatifid at base, 1.5–5 cm wide;
rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with monomorphic pubescence.
oblong-lanceolate, 3–4-pinnate at base, 1.5–5 cm wide;
rachis rounded adaxially, with scattered linear-lanceolate scales and monomorphic pubescence.
oblong to lanceolate, not beadlike, the largest 3–5 mm, abaxially and adaxially sparsely hirsute with long, segmented hairs.
oval to round, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxially pubescent with fine, unbranched hairs or glabrescent.
not articulate, dark color of stalk continuing into pinna base, basal pair slightly smaller than adjacent pair, ± equilateral, appearing sparsely hirsute adaxially.
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.
marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
marginal to obscurely inframarginal, somewhat differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
discontinuous, concentrated on small apical and lateral lobes.
± continuous around segment margins.
containing 64 spores.
containing 32 spores.
brown adaxially for most of length;
abaxial scales absent.
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.
= 2n = 90, 120, apogamous.
= 60.
Cheilanthes lanosa
Cheilanthes eatonii
Cheilanthes lanosa is apparently confined to the forests and prairies of eastern North America, and reports of this distinctive species from Arizona and New Mexico (A. J. Petrik-Ott 1979) have not been substantiated by herbarium specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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