Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Cheilanthes lanosa

Cheilanthes microphylla

hairy lip fern

southern lip fern
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 slightly darker at base, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, persistent.
Leaves

clustered, 7–50 cm;

vernation circinate.

usually scattered, 8–40 cm;

vernation noncircinate.
Petiole

dark brown, rounded adaxially.

black, 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.

lanceolate to linear-oblong, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid to 3-pinnate at base, 1.5–6 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, lacking scales, with dimorphic pubescence, abaxially sparsely hirsute, adaxially covered with tortuous, appressed hairs.
Ultimate segments

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

narrowly elliptic to elongate-deltate, not beadlike, the largest 3–7 mm, abaxially and adaxially sparsely hirsute to glabrescent.
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 often slightly larger than adjacent pair, ± equilateral, appearing glabrous or sparsely pubescent adaxially.
False indusia

marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.

marginal to obscurely inframarginal, somewhat differentiated, 0.1–0.4 mm wide.
Sori

discontinuous, concentrated on small apical and lateral lobes.

somewhat discontinuous, often concentrated on interrupted lateral lobes.
Sporangia

containing 64 spores.

containing 64 spores.
Costae

brown adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales absent.

black adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales absent.
2n

= 60.

= 116.

Cheilanthes lanosa

Cheilanthes microphylla
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall. Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and ledges, on a variety of substrates including limestone and granite Calcareous rock outcrops and shell mounds
Elevation 100–800 m (300–2600 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 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
FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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.)

In the flora, the primarily Caribbean Cheilanthes microphylla is known from a small number of localities on the Florida peninsula. This restricted distribution, combined with its smaller stems, mostly black costae, and 64-spored sporangia, helps to separate Cheilanthes microphylla from the closely related C. alabamensis.

(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. lendigera, C. leucopoda, C. lindheimeri, C. newberryi, C. parryi, C. pringlei, C. tomentosa, C. villosa, C. viscida, C. wootonii, C. wrightii, C. yavapensis
Synonyms Nephrodium lanosum, C. vestita Adiantum microphyllum
Name authority (Michaux) D. C. Eaton: in Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 234. (1859) (Swartz) Swartz: Syn. Fil. 127. (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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers