Flora of North America species comparison

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Cheilanthes lanosa

Cheilanthes lendigera

hairy lip fern

beaded lip fern, nitbearing lipfern
Stems

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.

long-creeping, 1–3 mm diam.;

scales uniformly brown or with poorly defined, dark, central stripe, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, usually persistent.
Leaves

clustered, 7–50 cm;

vernation circinate.

scattered to clustered, 5–30 cm;

vernation noncircinate.
Petiole

dark brown, rounded adaxially.

usually dark brown, rounded adaxially.
Blade

linear-oblong to lanceolate, usually 2-pinnate-pinnatifid at base, 1.5–5 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with monomorphic pubescence.

ovate-deltate to oblong-lanceolate, usually 4-pinnate at base, 1.5–8 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, with scattered linear scales and dense monomorphic pubescence.
Ultimate segments

oblong to lanceolate, not beadlike, the largest 3–5 mm, abaxially and adaxially sparsely hirsute with long, segmented hairs.

round to slightly oblong, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially sparsely to moderately pubescent with coarse hairs, adaxially glabrous.
Pinnae

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 glabrous or sparsely pubescent adaxially.
False indusia

marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.

inframarginal, strongly differentiated, 0.25–0.5 mm wide, forming pouch with constricted aperture on abaxial surface of ultimate segments.
Sori

discontinuous, concentrated on small apical and lateral lobes.

± continuous around segment margins.
Sporangia

containing 64 spores.

Costae

brown adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales absent.

green adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales uniseriate and hairlike.
2n

= 60.

= 120.

Cheilanthes lanosa

Cheilanthes lendigera
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall. Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and ledges, on a variety of substrates including limestone and granite Rocky slopes and ledges, usually on igneous substrates
Elevation 100–800 m (300–2600 ft) 1300–2400 m (4300–7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MN; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV
from FNA
AZ; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America
Discussion

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.)

Cheilanthes lendigera has the small, beadlike ultimate segments characteristic of subgenus Physapteris; the prominent inframarginal false indusia and near absence of multiseriate costal scales serve to distinguish it from all other North American members of that group. T. Reeves (1979) suggested that C. lendigera is a fertile allotetraploid resulting from hybridization between the Mexican species Cheilanthes mexicana Davenport and C. marsupianthes (Fée) T. Reeves ex Windham (unpublished).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Cheilanthes Pteridaceae > Cheilanthes
Sibling taxa
C. aemula, C. alabamensis, 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. 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
C. aemula, C. alabamensis, 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. leucopoda, C. lindheimeri, C. microphylla, C. newberryi, C. parryi, C. pringlei, C. tomentosa, C. villosa, C. viscida, C. wootonii, C. wrightii, C. yavapensis
Synonyms Nephrodium lanosum, C. vestita Pteris lendigera, Myriopteris lendigera
Name authority (Michaux) D. C. Eaton: in Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 234. (1859) (Cavanilles) Swartz: Syn. Fil. 328. (1806)
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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