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imbricate sword-fern, narrow-leaf sword fern, rock sword-fern

Stems

ascending to erect.

Leaves

erect to arching back at tip, 2–8 dm;

bulblets absent.

Petiole

1/4–1/3 length of leaf;

scales abruptly diminishing in size distally and falling off early but retaining conspicuous tuft of brown scales at base.

Blade

linear-lanceolate to linear, 1-pinnate, base not or slightly narrowed.

Pinnae

oblong, slenderly lanceolate, or falcate, usually overlapping, in 1 plane or twisted out of plane of blade, 2–4 cm;

base oblique, auricles well developed;

margins serrulate-spiny with teeth ascending;

apex cuspidate or apiculate with subapical teeth smaller than apical tooth;

microscales lanceolate to linear with straight or sharply angular projections, sparse, on abaxial surface only.

Indusia

entire to sharply dentate.

Spores

dark brown.

Polystichum imbricans

Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; only in the flora
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Polystichum imbricans is one of the postulated ancestors of two allopolyploids, P. californicum and P. scopulinum (D. H. Wagner 1979). Relationships to P. munitum are discussed under that species.

Subspecies 2.

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

Key
1. Pinnae oblong, less than 5 times longer than wide, adaxial surfaces facing upward and twisted out of plane of blade; leaves stiffly erect to tip; at base of boulders or in cliff crevices in exposed sites; California to British Columbia.
subsp. imbricans
1. Pinnae narrowly lanceolate, more than 5 times longer than wide, generally in 1 plane; leaf tips arching back; on forest floor in shade; only in California.
subsp. curtum
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Polystichum
Sibling taxa
P. acrostichoides, P. aleuticum, P. andersonii, P. braunii, P. californicum, P. dudleyi, P. kruckebergii, P. kwakiutlii, P. lemmonii, P. lonchitis, P. microchlamys, P. munitum, P. scopulinum, P. setigerum
Subordinate taxa
P. imbricans subsp. curtum, P. imbricans subsp. imbricans
Synonyms Aspidium munitum var. imbricans, P. munitum subsp. imbricans, P. munitum var. imbricans
Name authority (D. C. Eaton) D. H. Wagner: Pteridologia 1: 50. (1979)
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