Flora of North America species comparison

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Cystopteris utahensis

Utah bladderfern
Stems

creeping, not cordlike, internodes short, heavily beset with old petiole bases, hairs absent;

scales lanceolate, ± clathrate, radial walls dark brown, thick, luminae clear.
Leaves

monomorphic, clustered at stem apex, to 45 cm, nearly all bearing sori.
Petiole

green to straw-colored throughout or darker near base, shorter than blade, base sparsely scaly.
Blade

deltate to narrowly deltate, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, usually widest at or near base, apex short-attenuate;

rachis and costae with unicellular, gland-tipped hairs, misshapen bulblets present or absent;

axils of pinnae usually with multicellular, gland-tipped hairs.
Pinnae

typically perpendicular to rachis, not curving toward blade apex, margins serrate;

proximal pinnae pinnatifid to pinnate-pinnatifid, ± equilateral, basiscopic pinnules not enlarged;

basal basiscopic pinnules sessile or short-stalked, base truncate to obtuse, distal pinnae ovate to oblong.
Veins

directed into teeth and notches.
Indusia

cup-shaped, apex truncate, with scattered, unicellular, gland-tipped hairs.
Spores

spiny, usually 39–48 µm. 2n = 168.

Cystopteris utahensis
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Cracks and ledges on cliffs, on calcareous substrates including sandstone, limestone, and dacite
Elevation 1300–2700 m (4300–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; TX; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cystopteris utahensis is an allopolyploid derived from the diploid species C. bulbifera and C. reevesiana (C. H. Haufler and M. D. Windham 1991). Because C. utahensis shares one parent (C. bulbifera) with C. tennesseensis and because of morphologic similarities between C. reevesiana and C. protrusa (the second diploid parent of C. tennesseensis), populations of C. utahensis were previously considered to have originated by long-distance dispersal from eastern populations of C. tennesseensis. Genetic studies using isozyme markers, however, indicated that C. utahensis was a distinct species and stimulated the discovery of morphologic criteria for distinguishing it from its eastern cousin. When combined with the geographic separation of the two tetraploids, the minor differences in indument features provide a means of circumscribing this genetically distinct species. Potential confusion in identifying C. utahensis arises because sterile triploid hybrids may form when it is sympatric with the more common diploid C. reevesiana.

(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. montana, C. protrusa, C. reevesiana, C. tennesseensis, C. tenuis
Name authority Windham & Haufler: in Haufler & Windham, Amer. Fern J. 81: 13. (1991)
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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