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

attu hollyfern

Stems

ascending to erect.

erect.

Leaves

erect to arching back at tip, 2–8 dm;

bulblets absent.

arching, 3–8 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.

1/8–1/4 length of leaf, densely scaly;

scales brown, diminishing in size distally.

Blade

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

broadly lanceolate, 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, base 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.

narrowly lanceolate, not overlapping, in 1 plane, 3–13 cm;

base oblique, proximal acroscopic segments enlarged;

margins incised to costa but segments sessile and adnate to costa for at least 2 mm, segments excised and decurrent, serrulate-spiny with teeth spreading to ascending;

apex acute with subapical and apical teeth same size;

microscales filiform, dense abaxially, sparse adaxially.

Indusia

entire to sharply dentate.

erose-dentate.

Spore(s)

dark brown.

color unknown.

Polystichum imbricans

Polystichum microchlamys

Habitat Terrestrial
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; only in the flora
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; Asia in Kamtchatka and Japan
[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.)

Polystichum microchlamys is found in the flora only on Attu, at the western tip of the Aleutian Archipelago.

(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. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Polystichum 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
P. acrostichoides, P. aleuticum, P. andersonii, P. braunii, P. californicum, P. dudleyi, P. imbricans, P. kruckebergii, P. kwakiutlii, P. lemmonii, P. lonchitis, 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 Aspidium microchlamys
Name authority (D. C. Eaton) D. H. Wagner: Pteridologia 1: 50. (1979) (H. Christ) Matsumura: Index Pl. Jap. 1: 343. (1904)
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