Flora of North America species comparison

compact, erect to ascending, with cluster of persistent petiole bases of ± equal length;

scales uniformly brown, lanceolate.

compact, erect to ascending, with a few persistent petiole bases of unequal lengths;

scales often uniformly brown but at least some bicolored with dark central stripe and pale brown margins, narrowly lanceolate.

2.5–20 × 0.5–2.5 cm.

5–25 × 1.5–6 cm.

reddish brown or dark purple when mature, articulate above base at swollen node, relatively brittle and easily shattered.

reddish brown to dark purple when mature, not articulate above base, somewhat pliable and resistant to shattering.

linear to narrowly lanceolate, usually pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, lacking glands, never viscid;

rachis with widely scattered hairs and scales.

lanceolate to ovate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, densely glandular, often somewhat viscid;

most glandular hairs with thick stalks and distinctly bulbous tips;

rachis with abundant glandular hairs and a few narrow scales.

ovate-lanceolate to deltate, longer than wide, abruptly tapered to a rounded or broadly acute apex;

largest pinnae with 1–3 pairs of pinnules;

abaxial surface with isolated hairs and linear scales, adaxial surface glabrous.

ovate-deltate to elliptic, longer than wide, abruptly tapered to a rounded or broadly acute apex, occasionally attenuate;

largest pinnae with 5–11 pairs of pinnules;

abaxial and adaxial surfaces glandular, lacking nonglandular hairs or scales.

of narrow, hairlike segments, these uniseriate throughout, composed of cells many times longer than wide, usually surpassing mature sporangia.

of relatively broad segments;

segments multiseriate for most of length, often divided and uniseriate distally, composed of ± isodiametric cells, often surpassing mature sporangia.

averaging 46–53 µm.

averaging 44–50 µm. 2n = 152.

entire or broadly crenate;

margins nonlustrous, thin, with occasional isolated cilia, lacking translucent projections.

dentate, often shallowly lobed;

margins nonlustrous, thin, densely glandular, lacking cilia but with occasional 1–2-celled translucent projections.

tips often enlarged to form whitish hydathodes visible adaxially.

tips slightly (if at all) enlarged, barely visible adaxially.