Pellaea intermedia |
Pellaea bridgesii |
|
---|---|---|
creeping cliff brake, intermediate cliffbrake |
Bridges' cliff-brake |
|
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 mostly weakly bicolored, linear-subulate, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, centers dark brown, thin, margins lighter, thin, denticulate to entire. |
Leaves | monomorphic, widely scattered along stem, 12–50 cm; croziers pubescent and bearing a few scales. |
monomorphic, clustered on stem, 7–30 cm; croziers nearly glabrous. |
Petiole | straw-colored, tan, or gray, not lustrous, rounded or slightly flattened adaxially, without prominent articulation lines. |
dark brown, lustrous, rounded adaxially, without prominent articulation lines. |
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, 1-pinnate, 1.5–4 cm wide; rachis brown throughout, straight, rounded adaxially, glabrous. |
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. |
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 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. |
perpendicular to slightly ascending, usually not decurrent on rachis, simple and unlobed; costae absent. |
Veins | of ultimate segments obscure. |
of ultimate segments obscure. |
Sporangia | short-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands. |
sessile or subsessile, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands. |
n | = 2n = 87, 116, apogamous. |
|
2n | = 58. |
|
Pellaea intermedia |
Pellaea bridgesii |
|
Phenology | Sporulating summer–fall. | Sporulating summer–fall. |
Habitat | Rocky slopes and ledges, on a variety of substrates, including limestone and granite | Rocky slopes and cliffs, on granitic substrates |
Elevation | 300–2400 m (1000–7900 ft) | 1200–3600 m (3900–11800 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
|
CA; ID; NV; OR
|
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.) |
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. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | Pteridaceae > Pellaea | Pteridaceae > Pellaea |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. intermedia var. pubescens | |
Name authority | Mettenius ex Kuhn: Linnaea 38: 84. (1869) | Hooker: Sp. Fil. 2: 238, plate 142b. (1858) |
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