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Florida lacefern, Florida tree fern, red-hair comb fern

Petiole

scales orangish, rarely brown, linear or filiform, 20–40 × 0.4–1.5 mm, densely tangled and woollike.

Blade

2–4-pinnate-pinnatifid, glabrous or glandular on both surfaces;

glands pale yellow, ca. 0.1 mm, appressed.

Ultimate segments

2–4 mm wide;

margins ciliate.

Veins

3–6 pairs per segment, unbranched or 1-forked.

Sori

medial to inframedial;

indusia present but soon deciduous and therefore appearing absent.

Basal

pinnae 22–50 × 10–23 cm, inequilateral, elongate basiscopically.

2n

= 82.

Ctenitis sloanei

Habitat Wooded limestone ledges, hammocks, cypress swamps
Elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; s Mexico; Central America; West Indies in Antilles; Trinidad; South America in Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; and Venezuela
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The names Ctenitis ampla (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) Ching and Dryopteris ampla (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) Kuntze have been misapplied to this taxon. Ctenitis sloanei and C. submarginalis both have numerous scales at the base of the petiole; in C. sloanei, however, the scales form a large, conspicuous, tangled tuft.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Ctenitis
Sibling taxa
C. submarginalis
Synonyms Polypodium sloanei
Name authority (Poeppig ex Sprengel) C. V. Morton: Amer. Fern J. 59: 66. (1969)
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