Pellaea wrightiana
Pellaea cordifolia
Wright's cliffbrake
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.
monomorphic, clustered on stem, 6–40 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.
linear-oblong, 2-pinnate proximally, 1.5–5 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, 5–20 mm, leathery, glabrous;
margins recurved on fertile segments, usually covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, crenulate;
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 or slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 3–9 ultimate segments;
costae straight, 2–20 mm, usually shorter than 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 sparse farina-producing glands.
short-stalked, containing 64 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.
= 116.
= 58.
Pellaea wrightiana
Pellaea cordifolia
W. H. Wagner Jr. (1965) suggested that Pellaea wrightiana was a fertile allotetraploid hybrid between P. truncata (as P. longimucronata) and P. ternifolia. This hypothesis has been confirmed by isozyme analyses (M. D. Windham 1988). Pellaea wrightiana is therefore treated as a distinct species rather than a variety of P. ternifolia. This tetraploid species hybridizes with P. truncata and P. ternifolia subsp. arizonica to produce sterile triploids and tetraploids with intermediate morphology and malformed spores. Pellaea wrightiana has also hybridized with P. atropurpurea to form a rare apogamous pentaploid known only from western Oklahoma.
(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.)
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