Flora of North America species comparison

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Cystopteris montana

cystoptère des montagnes, mountain bladder fern, mountain brittle fern
Stems

long-creeping, cordlike, internodes 1–2(–4) cm, old petiole bases few, hairs absent;

scales usually tan to light brown, ovate-lanceolate, radial walls tan to brown, thin, luminae tan.
Leaves

monomorphic, at stem apex but not tightly clustered, to 45 cm, sori production about equal on all leaves (fairly independent of season).
Petiole

dark brown to black at base, gradually becoming green or straw-colored distally, (1–)2–3 times length of blades, sparsely scaly throughout.
Blade

elongate-pentagonal, 3(–4)-pinnate-pinnatifid;

rachis and costae lacking gland-tipped hairs or bulblets;

axils of pinnae with occasional multicellular gland-tipped hairs.
Pinnae

ascending, typically at acute angle to rachis, only proximal pinnae occasionally curving toward blade apex, margins serrate;

proximal pinnae pinnate-pinnatifid, inequilateral, basal basiscopic pinnule stalked, enlarged, base truncate to obtuse;

distal pinnae deltate to ovate.
Veins

directed into notches.
Indusia

cup-shaped, apex truncate, hairs gland-tipped only along margin.
Spores

spiny, usually 37–42 µm. 2n = 168.

Cystopteris montana
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Terrestrial in wet woods or along water courses
Elevation rare; 0–3500 m (rare; 0–11500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CO; MT; AB; BC; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cystopteris montana, the most distinctive of the Cystopteris in the flora, probably is allied to Asian species. Although this boreal species is restricted primarily to high latitudes, it occurs disjunctly at high elevations in Colorado, where its habitats are being threatened by development. Cystopteris montana does not hybridize with any other Cystopteris in the flora, but it has been implicated in the origin of the European allopolyploid C. alpina (Roth) Desvaux.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Cystopteris
Sibling taxa
C. bulbifera, C. fragilis, C. laurentiana, C. protrusa, C. reevesiana, C. tennesseensis, C. tenuis, C. utahensis
Synonyms Polypodium montanum
Name authority (Lamarck) Bernhardi ex Desvaux: Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 6(2,3): 264.1827
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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