Flora of North America species comparison

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Vittaria lineata

Vittaria graminifolia

shoestring fern

grass fern
Habit Plants epiphytic. Plants epiphytic.
Stems

short-creeping, branched, densely scaly;

scales brown, apex attenuate, filiform.

Gemmae

tapering at ends, end cells not swollen;

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

tapering at ends, end cells not swollen;

body cells 4, rhizoid primordia on each end cell.
Leaves

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

Sporangia

protected by soral paraphyses that lack dilated terminal cells.

Spores

monolete.

Gametophytes

much branched.

much branched.
Sporophytes

absent in flora.
2n

= 120.

Vittaria lineata

Vittaria graminifolia
Habitat Epiphytic, most commonly on trunks of palms (Sabal palmetto Loddiges), in moist woods and especially along streams Epiphytic in dark, moist hollows formed by flaring root buttresses of beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrhart)
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–50 m (0–200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
LA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
[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.)

Louisiana plants, known only from St. Helena Parish, are identical to gametophytes grown from sporophyte plants from Central America both morphologically and in starch gel enzyme electrophoresis patterns. Gametophyte colonies and possibly sporophytes of Vittaria graminifolia should be expected in similar habitats at additional sites along the Gulf Coast and in peninsular Florida. Sporophytes of V. graminifolia differ from those of V. lineata in having trilete spores, dilated terminal cells of the soral paraphyses, stem scales with acute (not long filiform) apices, and a chromosome number of 2n = 60. Earlier reports of sporophytes of V. graminifolia in Florida (as V. filifolia) have been shown to refer to aberrant forms of V. lineata (G. J. Gastony 1980).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Vittariaceae > Vittaria Vittariaceae > Vittaria
Sibling taxa
V. appalachiana, V. graminifolia
V. appalachiana, V. lineata
Synonyms Pteris lineata V. filifolia
Name authority (Linnaeus) Smith Kaulfuss: Enum. Filic. 192. (1824)
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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