Flora of North America species comparison

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Pedicularis cystopteridifolia

fern-leaf lousewort, fernleaf pedicularis
Habit Plants 10–50 cm.
Leaves

basal 2–10, blade elliptic to lanceolate, 20–90 x 5–15 mm, 2(or 3)-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping to extensively overlapping distally, serrate, surfaces glabrous;

cauline 2–8, blade triangular to lanceolate, 20–120 x 5–20 mm, 1- or 2-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping or extensively overlapping distally, serrate, surfaces glabrous or unevenly hispid to tomentose.
Racemes

simple, 1–2, exceeding basal leaves, each 10–40-flowered;

bracts trullate to obtrullate or subulate to trullate, 10–25 x 2–5 mm, undivided or 1- or 2-auricled, sometimes 1-pinnatifid, proximal margins entire, distal entire or serrate, surfaces tomentose.
Pedicels

1–3 mm.
Flowers

calyx 8–12 mm, tomentose, lobes 5, narrowly triangular, 3–4 mm, apex entire, ciliate;

corolla 20–26 mm, tube red or pink, 13–15 mm;

galea red or pink, 7–11 mm, beakless, margins entire medially, 1-toothed distally, apex arching over abaxial lip;

abaxial lip red or pink, 6–7.5 mm.
2n

= 32.

Pedicularis cystopteridifolia
Phenology Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Rocky alpine tundras, meadows.
Elevation 2100–3100 m. (6900–10200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
MT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pedicularis cystopteridifolia occurs only in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. As the specific epithet implies, the leaves strongly resemble those of the fern Cystopteris fragilis. Although not sympatric, this species could easily be misidentified as P. sudetica subsp. scopulorum, which has flowers of a similar shape and color, and leaves that are also two-pinnatifid. The secondary leaf lobes of P. cystopteridifolia, however, are much larger, longer, more deeply incised, and more heavily toothed, making them appear more finely dissected than the linear to deltate secondary and smaller toothed lobes of P. sudetica. Many of the adjacent leaf lobes of P. cystopteridifolia also overlap, whereas the lobes of P. sudetica are more widely spaced and therefore not overlapping. The galea of P. cystopteridifolia is also more highly domed and broader, and the leaves are a paler shade of green in contrast to the dark green leaves of P. sudetica subsp. scopulorum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 521.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Pedicularis
Sibling taxa
P. angustifolia, P. attollens, P. aurantiaca, P. bracteosa, P. canadensis, P. capitata, P. centranthera, P. chamissonis, P. contorta, P. crenulata, P. densiflora, P. dudleyi, P. flammea, P. furbishiae, P. groenlandica, P. hirsuta, P. howellii, P. labradorica, P. lanata, P. lanceolata, P. langsdorffii, P. lapponica, P. oederi, P. ornithorhyncha, P. ornithorhynchos, P. palustris, P. parryi, P. parviflora, P. pennellii, P. procera, P. pulchella, P. racemosa, P. rainierensis, P. semibarbata, P. sudetica, P. sylvatica, P. verticillata
Name authority Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 365. (1900)
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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