Pellaea truncata
Pellaea lyngholmii
cliff brake, spiny cliff-brake
lyngholm's 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, 5–10 mm diam.;
scales uniformly brown or tan, linear-subulate, 0.1–0.3 mm wide, thin, margins entire to denticulate.
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 and less divided than fertile leaves, clustered on stem, 10–30 cm;
croziers villous.
dark brown, lustrous, flattened or slightly grooved adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
dark brown to reddish purple, lustrous, rounded adaxially, without prominent articulation lines.
ovate-deltate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, 4–18 cm wide;
rachis brown throughout, straight, shallowly grooved adaxially, usually glabrous.
elongate-deltate to ovate, 2-pinnate proximally, 5–15 cm wide;
rachis brown or reddish purple throughout, straight, often slightly flattened adaxially, sparsely villous with long, divergent hairs.
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.
oblong-lanceolate, 7–25 mm, leathery, sparsely villous abaxially near midrib;
margins usually recurved on fertile segments, covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, crenulate;
apex 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 7–15 ultimate segments;
costae straight, 25–80 mm, usually longer than ultimate segments.
of ultimate segments obscure.
of ultimate segments obscure.
long-stalked, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands.
long-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
= 58.
Pellaea truncata
Pellaea lyngholmii
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.)
Pellaea lyngholmii is an apogamous tetraploid that arose through hybridization between P. atropurpurea and P. truncata (M. D. Windham 1993). It is most often confused with P. atropurpurea, from which P. lyngholmii differs in having sparsely villous rachises, smaller and more numerous ultimate segments, and spores usually more than 62 µm in diameter.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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