Flora of North America species comparison

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

scales bicolored, linear-subulate, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, centers black, thick, margins brown, thin, erose-dentate.

compact to long-creeping, ascending to horizontal, usually branched;

scales brown to tan or often bicolored with dark, central stripe and lighter margins, linear-subulate to lanceolate (rarely ovate), margins dentate, erose, or entire.

monomorphic, clustered on stem, 10–50 cm;

croziers sparsely to densely villous.

monomorphic to somewhat dimorphic, clustered to widely scattered, 2–100 cm.

black or dark purple, lustrous, rounded or slightly flattened adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.

brown, black, straw-colored, or gray, rounded, flattened or with single longitudinal groove adaxially, glabrous or pubescent, usually with a few scales at base, with single vascular bundle.

linear to ovate, deeply pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, 2.5–8 cm wide;

rachis black or purple throughout, straight, often flattened adaxially, glabrous or villous.

linear to ovate-deltate, 1–4-pinnate proximally, leathery or rarely somewhat herbaceous, abaxially glabrous, pubescent, or with hairlike scales scattered along costae, adaxially usually glabrous, dull, not striate;

rachis straight or flexuous.

linear-oblong, 10–40 mm, leathery, glabrous to sparsely villous abaxially on midrib;

margins recurved on fertile segments, rarely covering more than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, entire;

apex mucronate.

of blade usually stalked and free from costae, elliptic, lanceolate to linear, usually more than 4 mm wide;

base rounded, truncate, or cordate;

stalks often lustrous and dark colored;

segment margins reflexed to form confluent, poorly defined, false indusia extending entire length of segment.

perpendicular to rachis or slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, ternate at base of leaf;

costae absent.

of ultimate segments obscure.

of ultimate segments free or rarely anastomosing, usually obscure, pinnately branched and divergent distally.

greenish to whitish, narrow, clearly marginal, often concealing the sporangia.

long-stalked, containing 64 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.

scattered along veins near segment margins, containing 32 or 64 spores, often intermixed with glands, farina-producing.

brown to tan (rarely yellow), tetrahedral-globose, rugose or cristate, lacking prominent equatorial ridge.

= 29.