Flora of North America species comparison

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Vittaria lineata

Vittaria

shoestring fern

shoestring fern
Habit Plants epiphytic.
Stems

short-creeping, branched, densely scaly;

scales brown, apex attenuate, filiform.

densely scaly.
Gemmae

tapering at ends, end cells not swollen;

body cells 4–16, rhizoid primordia on each end cell, often on 1–2 medial cells.

Leaves

10–60 cm × 1–3 mm, petioles indistinct.

pendent, linear.
Veins

anastamosing in single row of areolae on each side of midrib.
Sori

in single submarginal groove on each side of midrib.
Sporangia

protected by soral paraphyses that lack dilated terminal cells.

Spores

monolete.

Gametophytes

much branched.

0.5–2 × 0.5–1 cm;

gemmae uniseriate, 2–5 mm, borne at apices of aerial branches;

body cells 2–16;

rhizoid primordia cells 0–4.
2n

= 120.

Vittaria lineata

Vittaria
Habitat Epiphytic, most commonly on trunks of palms (Sabal palmetto Loddiges), in moist woods and especially along streams
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Worldwide in tropics and subtropics
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Sporophytes, now extirpated, once occurred on rock cliffs at a single site in Lincoln County, east central Georgia. Vittaria lineata is now known outside of Florida only in Camden County, in southeastern Georgia. Gametophytes commonly form the dominant cover on moist logs and tree trunks, especially the bases of Sabal palmetto palms, within the range of the sporophyte. Such populations usually contain numerous small, sexually produced sporophytes.

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

Species ca. 50 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stem scales tapering to long filiform tips; soral paraphyses without dilated terminal cells; spores monolete.
V. lineata
1. Gemmae variable in length; body cells 2-16, rhizoid primordia present or absent.
→ 2
2. Gemmae with 4-16 body cells, end cells equal to or smaller than medial cells; rhizoid primordia on some medial cells and regularly on end cells; sporophytes frequently produced.
V. lineata
2. Gemmae with 2-12 body cells but at least some 2-3-celled gemmae present, end cells often swollen and larger than medial cells; rhizoid primordia often absent on 1 or both end cells, seldom present on medial cells; sporophytes not produced.
V. appalachiana
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2. Author: Donald R. Farrar.
Parent taxa Vittariaceae > Vittaria Vittariaceae
Sibling taxa
V. appalachiana, V. graminifolia
Subordinate taxa
V. appalachiana, V. lineata
Synonyms Pteris lineata
Name authority (Linnaeus) Smith Smith
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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