Pellaea andromedifolia
Pellaea gastonyi
coffee cliffbrake, coffee fern
Gastony's cliff-brake, Gastony's cliffbrake fern
creeping, horizontal, slender, 2–4 mm diam.;
scales mostly bicolored, narrowly lanceolate, largest scales 0.3–0.8 mm wide, centers black, thick, margins brown, thin, irregularly dentate.
compact, ascending, stout, 5–10 mm diam.;
scales uniformly reddish brown, linear-subulate, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, thin, margins entire to denticulate.
monomorphic, scattered along stem, 10–60 cm;
croziers not conspicuously pubescent, densely scaly.
somewhat dimorphic, sterile leaves shorter than fertile leaves, clustered on stem, 8–25 cm;
croziers villous.
straw-colored, tan, or gray, not lustrous, rounded or slightly flattened adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
reddish purple to dark brown, lustrous, rounded adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
elongate-deltate, usually 3-pinnate proximally, 3–20 cm wide;
rachis tan throughout, straight to slightly flexuous, rounded or flattened adaxially, glabrous or pubescent.
elongate-deltate to lanceolate, 2-pinnate proximally, 3–6 cm wide;
rachis purple or brown throughout, straight, rounded adaxially, sparsely villous with long, divergent hairs.
elliptic to ovate, 3–15 mm, somewhat herbaceous, glabrous to sparsely pubescent abaxially;
margins recurved on fertile segments, usually covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, entire;
apex retuse to rounded.
oblong-lanceolate, 7–30 mm, leathery, sparsely villous abaxially near midrib;
margins usually recurved on fertile segments, covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, crenulate;
apex obtuse to slightly mucronate.
ascending or perpendicular to rachis, not decurrent on rachis, with 8–50 ultimate segments;
costae usually straight, 15–140 mm, longer than ultimate segments.
ascending or perpendicular to rachis, not decurrent on rachis or obscurely so, usually with 3–7 ultimate segments;
costae straight, 2–30 mm, usually shorter than ultimate segments.
of ultimate segments evident.
of ultimate segments obscure.
short-stalked, containing 64 or 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
long-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
= 58;
n = 2n = 87, 116, apogamous.
Pellaea andromedifolia
Pellaea gastonyi
Pellaea andromedifolia comprises three cytotypes: a sexually reproducing diploid, an apogamous triploid, and an apogamous tetraploid. Isozyme studies by G. J. Gastony and L. D. Gottlieb (1985) suggested that the apogamous triploid is an autopolyploid derived from sexual diploid populations. The apogamous tetraploid apparently resulted from hybridization between diploid and triploid individuals. These cytotypes have not been formally recognized as subspecies because their ranges seem to overlap extensively and because the ploidy level of the type collection of P. andromedifolia is not known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pellaea gastonyi is an apogamous tetraploid that has originated through repeated hybridization between P. atropurpurea and P. glabella. Isozyme studies (G. J. Gastony 1988) indicate that P. glabella subsp. missouriensis was the diploid parent of plants found in Missouri, whereas diploid P. glabella subsp. occidentalis was involved in the origin of P. gastonyi populations occurring in western North America. Pellaea gastonyi is most often confused with P. atropurpurea, from which it differs in having sparsely villous rachises, smaller ultimate segments, and spores averaging more than 62 µm in diameter.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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