Pellaea truncata
Pellaea intermedia
cliff brake, spiny cliff-brake
creeping cliff brake, intermediate 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.
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.
somewhat dimorphic, sterile leaves shorter and less divided than fertile leaves, clustered on stems, 8–40 cm;
croziers sparsely villous.
monomorphic, widely scattered along stem, 12–50 cm;
croziers pubescent and bearing a few scales.
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 to elongate-deltate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, 4–20 cm wide;
rachis tan throughout, straight to slightly flexuous, rounded or flattened adaxially, ± pubescent.
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.
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.
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 7–21 ultimate segments;
costae straight to slightly flexuous, 20–100 mm, longer than ultimate segments.
of ultimate segments obscure.
of ultimate segments obscure.
long-stalked, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands.
short-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
= 2n = 87, 116, apogamous.
= 58.
Pellaea truncata
Pellaea intermedia
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.)
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.)
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