Flora of North America species comparison

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Cheilanthes wootonii

beaded lipfern, Wooton's lip fern
Stems

long-creeping, 1–3 mm diam.;

scales uniformly brown or weakly bicolored with poorly defined, dark, central stripe, lanceolate-ovate, straight to slightly contorted, loosely appressed, often deciduous on older portions of stem.
Leaves

scattered, 7–35 cm;

vernation noncircinate.
Petiole

usually dark brown, rounded adaxially.
Blade

oblong-lanceolate, 3–4-pinnate at base, 2–5 cm wide;

rachis rounded adaxially, with scattered linear-lanceolate scales and sparse monomorphic pubescence.
Ultimate segments

round to oblong, beadlike, the largest 1–3 mm, abaxially glabrous or with a few small scales near base, adaxially glabrous.
Pinnae

not articulate, dark color of stalk continuing into pinna base, basal pair not conspicuously larger than adjacent pair, usually equilateral, appearing glabrous adaxially.
False indusia

marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide.
Sori

± continuous around segment margins.
Sporangia

containing 32 spores.
Costae

green adaxially for most of length;

abaxial scales multiseriate, lanceolate-ovate, truncate or subcordate at base, without overlapping basal lobes, conspicuous, the largest 0.4–0.8 mm wide, strongly imbricate, often concealing ultimate segments, ciliate, with coarse cilia often confined to proximal 1/2.
n

= 2n = 90, apogamous.

Cheilanthes wootonii
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and ledges, usually on igneous substrates
Elevation 800–2900 m (2600–9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; OK; TX; UT; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Like its close relative Cheilanthes lindheimeri, C. wootonii is an apogamous triploid of unknown parentage. With the recognition of C. yavapensis as a distinct species, the name C. wootonii is restricted to populations with leaf blades that appear glabrous adaxially, costal scales that are often ciliate only in the proximal half, and stem scales that are usually brown and loosely appressed. In addition, C. wootonii is distinguished from C. yavapensis by having smaller spores, averaging less than 62 µm in diameter. These characteristics can be subtle, and some specimens will be difficult to place in either C. wootonii or C. yavapensis. T. Reeves (1979) identified several specimens from Arizona that he hypothesized were hybrids between C. wootonii and C. fendleri.

(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. feei, 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. wrightii, C. yavapensis
Name authority Maxon: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 3: 146. (1918)
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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