The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

creeping cliff brake, intermediate cliffbrake

Brewer's cliff-brake, Brewer's cliffbrake fern

Stems

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 sinuous, nearly entire.

Leaves

monomorphic, widely scattered along stem, 12–50 cm;

croziers pubescent and bearing a few scales.

monomorphic, clustered on stem, 2.5–20 cm;

croziers sparsely villous.

Petiole

straw-colored, tan, or gray, not lustrous, rounded or slightly flattened adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.

brown, lustrous, rounded adaxially, with prominent articulation lines near base.

Blade

ovate to elongate-deltate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, 4–20 cm wide;

rachis tan throughout, straight to slightly flexuous, rounded or flattened adaxially, ± pubescent.

linear-oblong, pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, 1–4 cm wide;

rachis brown proximally, green distally, straight, rounded adaxially, glabrous to sparsely villous.

Ultimate segments

ovate to elliptic, 5–15 mm, leathery, glabrous or usually puberulent abaxially;

margins recurved on fertile segments, usually covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, nearly entire;

apex obtuse to slightly mucronate.

lanceolate-deltate, 5–25 mm, herbaceous, glabrous;

margins recurved on fertile segments, covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, erose-denticulate;

apex obtuse or rounded.

Pinnae

perpendicular to rachis or slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 7–21 ultimate segments;

costae straight to slightly flexuous, 20–100 mm, longer than ultimate segments.

ascending or perpendicular to rachis, decurrent on rachis, deeply 2-lobed (mitten-shaped) near base of leaf;

costae absent.

Veins

of ultimate segments obscure.

of ultimate segments evident.

Sporangia

short-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.

sessile or subsessile, containing 64 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.

n

= 2n = 87, 116, apogamous.

2n

= 58.

Pellaea intermedia

Pellaea breweri

Phenology Sporulating summer–fall. Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes and ledges, on a variety of substrates, including limestone and granite Cliffs and rocky slopes, on a variety of substrates including granite and limestone
Elevation 300–2400 m (1000–7900 ft) 1600–3800 m (5200–12500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants of Pellaea intermedia in the flora are apogamous triploids and tetraploids; a sexual diploid cytotype has been found near Saltillo, Mexico (A. F. Tryon 1968). Given the high degree of morphologic similarity among the three cytotypes, the North American polyploids probably were derived from the Mexican diploid through autopolyploidy.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Pellaea breweri is distinguished from other North American taxa (except for some populations of P. glabella) by the presence of prominent articulation lines near the base of the petiole. The leaves are easily detached, and many herbarium specimens consist of separate leaves and stems, the latter covered with petiole bases of approximately equal length.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Pellaea Pteridaceae > Pellaea
Sibling taxa
P. andromedifolia, P. atropurpurea, P. brachyptera, P. breweri, P. bridgesii, P. cordifolia, P. gastonyi, P. glabella, P. lyngholmii, P. mucronata, P. ovata, P. ternifolia, P. truncata, P. wrightiana
P. andromedifolia, P. atropurpurea, P. brachyptera, P. bridgesii, P. cordifolia, P. gastonyi, P. glabella, P. intermedia, P. lyngholmii, P. mucronata, P. ovata, P. ternifolia, P. truncata, P. wrightiana
Synonyms P. intermedia var. pubescens
Name authority Mettenius ex Kuhn: Linnaea 38: 84. (1869) D. C. Eaton: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 6: 555. (1865)
Web links