Flora of North America species comparison

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Pentagramma triangularis

Pentagramma triangularis subsp. viscosa

gold fern, gold-back fern, goldenback fern
Photo is of parent taxon

silverback fern
Petiole

chestnut brown to dark brown, somewhat shiny, glabrous or sometimes viscid-glandular or rarely somewhat white-farinose proximally.

sometimes viscid-glandular.
Blade(s)

thin and herbaceous to thick and leathery, abaxially densely farinose, farina white or yellow, adaxially bright green to yellowish green when fresh, glabrous to glandular or viscid.

thick and leathery, abaxially densely white-farinose and viscid-glandular, adaxially viscid-glandular.
Distal

pinnae mostly entire.
Proximal

basiscopic lobes of basal pinnae entire to undulate or crenate.
2n

= 60.

Pentagramma triangularis

Pentagramma triangularis subsp. viscosa
Habitat Chaparral, pine and oak woodlands. Chaparral, pine and oak woodlands
Elevation 100–900 m (300–3000 ft) 50–500 m (200–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Largely coastal; Mexico in Baja California
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pentagramma triangularis occurs in rock crevices and at the base of overhanging boulders in drainages and on slopes and roadbanks. Occasional plants in which the farina is nearly absent may be encountered. These have been described as Pityrogramma triangularis var. viridis Hoover, a name of uncertain application that appears to refer to misshapen-spored hybrids of various parentage within the Pentagramma triangularis complex.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Pentagramma triangularis subsp. viscosa was said to introgress with P. triangularis subsp. triangularis by K. S. Alt and V. Grant (1960), who noted both diploid and tetraploid plants of intermediate morphology at some sites where these two occur together.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaves viscid-glandular adaxially; distal pinnae mostly entire; proximal basiscopic lobes of basal pinnae entire to undulate or crenate.
subsp. viscosa
1. Leaves glabrous or with scattered yellowish capitate glands adaxially, not viscid-glandular; distal pinnae mostly regularly lobed; proximal basiscopic lobes of basal pinnae pinnatifid, often deeply so.
→ 2
2. Leaves with scattered yellowish, capitate, nonfarinose glands adaxially, white-farinose abaxially.
subsp. maxonii
2. Leaves glabrous adaxially, yellow- or white- farinose abaxially.
→ 3
3. Farina light to bright yellow.
subsp. triangularis
3. Farina white.
subsp. semipallida
Source FNA vol. 2, p. 151. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Pentagramma Pteridaceae > Pentagramma > Pentagramma triangularis
Sibling taxa
P. pallida
P. triangularis subsp. maxonii, P. triangularis subsp. semipallida, P. triangularis subsp. triangularis
Subordinate taxa
P. triangularis subsp. maxonii, P. triangularis subsp. semipallida, P. triangularis subsp. triangularis, P. triangularis subsp. viscosa
Synonyms Gymnogramma triangularis, Pityrogramma triangularis Gymnogramma viscosa, Pityrogramma triangularis var. viscosa, Pityrogramma viscosa
Name authority (Kaulfuss) Yatskievych: Amer. Fern J. 80: 15. (1990) (Nuttall ex D. C. Eaton) Yatskievych: Amer. Fern J. 80: 15. (1990)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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