Pellaea truncata
Pellaea cordifolia
cliff brake, spiny cliff-brake
heartleaf cliffbrake
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, ascending, stout, 6–10 mm diam.;
scales uniformly orange-brown and thin, lanceolate to ovate, largest scales 0.3–1 mm wide, margins dentate.
somewhat dimorphic, sterile leaves shorter and less divided than fertile leaves, clustered on stems, 8–40 cm;
croziers sparsely villous.
somewhat dimorphic, sterile leaves shorter than fertile leaves, clustered on stem, 15–50 cm;
croziers not conspicuously pubescent, densely scaly.
dark brown, lustrous, flattened or slightly grooved adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
straw-colored, tan, or gray, not lustrous, rounded or slightly flattened adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
ovate-deltate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, 4–18 cm wide;
rachis brown throughout, straight, shallowly grooved adaxially, usually glabrous.
ovate-deltate, 2-pinnate proximally, 5–20 cm wide;
rachis tan throughout, straight to slightly flexuous, rounded or flattened adaxially, glabrous.
narrowly oblong, 4–10 mm, leathery, glabrous;
margins recurved on fertile segments, usually covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, nearly entire;
apex mucronate.
round-cordate to deltate-cordate, 5–15 mm, herbaceous to leathery, glabrous or puberulent;
margins recurved on fertile segments, covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, crenulate;
apex rounded or retuse.
perpendicular to rachis to slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 9–25 ultimate segments;
costae straight, 20–70 mm, much longer than fertile ultimate segments.
perpendicular to rachis or slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 3–15 ultimate segments;
costae straight to slightly flexuous, 25–100 mm, longer than ultimate segments.
of ultimate segments obscure.
of ultimate segments usually evident.
long-stalked, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands.
short-stalked, containing 64 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
= 58.
= 58.
Pellaea truncata
Pellaea cordifolia
Most manuals refer to Pellaea truncata as P. longimucronata, a name shown to be invalid by A. Cronquist et al. (1972+, vol. 1). Populations located near the range of P. mucronata in the Mojave Desert are often difficult to identify because of the subtlety of the characters involved and an apparent tendency to produce sterile (and possibly fertile) hybrids. Morphologically intermediate hybrids between P. truncata and P. wrightiana are common in regions where the ranges of the two species overlap, but these are easily identified by their malformed spores.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The diploid Pellaea cordifolia has often been treated as a variety of the Central American and South American apogamous triploid, P. sagittata. The two taxa are distinguished by a number of qualitative morphologic features (A. R. Smith 1980), and it seems unlikely that they represent cytotypes of a single species. A. F. Tryon (1957) suggested that P. sagittata may have originated through hybridization between P. ovata and P. cordifolia (as P. sagittata var. cordata).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
