Flora of North America species comparison

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Pellaea bridgesii

Bridges' cliff-brake
Stems

compact, ascending, stout, 5–10 mm diam.;

scales mostly weakly bicolored, linear-subulate, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, centers dark brown, thin, margins lighter, thin, denticulate to entire.
Leaves

monomorphic, clustered on stem, 7–30 cm;

croziers nearly glabrous.
Petiole

dark brown, lustrous, rounded adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
Blade

linear, 1-pinnate, 1.5–4 cm wide;

rachis brown throughout, straight, rounded adaxially, glabrous.
Ultimate segments

broadly ovate to elliptic, 7–20 mm, leathery, glabrous;

margins plane, not recurved, not covering abaxial surface, borders whitish, entire;

apex obtuse to rounded.
Pinnae

perpendicular to slightly ascending, usually not decurrent on rachis, simple and unlobed;

costae absent.
Veins

of ultimate segments obscure.
Sporangia

sessile or subsessile, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands.
2n

= 58.

Pellaea bridgesii
Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and cliffs, on granitic substrates
Elevation 1200–3600 m (3900–11800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The morphology of Pellaea bridgesii is so distinctive that its sectional (and even generic) placement in Pellaea has long been a source of contention. W. H. Wagner Jr. et al. (1983) documented the existence of sterile diploid hybrids (called P. × glaciogena) between P. bridgesii and P. mucronata (see reticulogram), suggesting that P. bridgesii is most closely related to members of sect. Pellaea. In addition to the more obvious characters mentioned above, P. bridgesii is distinguished from other North American species (except P. ternifolia) by its anastomosing veins.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Pellaea
Sibling taxa
P. andromedifolia, P. atropurpurea, P. brachyptera, P. breweri, P. cordifolia, P. gastonyi, P. glabella, P. intermedia, P. lyngholmii, P. mucronata, P. ovata, P. ternifolia, P. truncata, P. wrightiana
Name authority Hooker: Sp. Fil. 2: 238, plate 142b. (1858)
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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