Flora of North America species comparison

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

scales uniformly brown, lanceolate.

compact to creeping, erect to horizontal, with few to many 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.

3.5–15 × 0.5–1.2 cm.

8–60 × 2.5–12 cm.

green or straw-colored throughout, articulate above base at swollen node, somewhat pliable and resistant to shattering.

light brown or straw-colored when mature, occasionally darker at very base, not articulate above base, relatively brittle and easily shattered.

linear to linear-lanceolate, pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, glabrous or with occasional sessile glands, never viscid;

rachis glabrous.

lanceolate to ovate, 2-pinnate to 2-pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, moderately glandular, rarely somewhat viscid;

many glandular hairs with thick stalks and distinctly bulbous tips;

rachis with glandular hairs and scattered, often hairlike scales.

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

largest pinnae with 5–14 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, nonfilamentous segments, these multiseriate throughout, composed of ± isodiametric cells, entire or glandular along distal edge, concealed by or slightly surpassing mature sporangia.

averaging 39–45 µm. 2n = 78.

averaging 35–47 µm.

pinnae fan-shaped, wider than long;

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

largest pinnae with 1–3 pairs of pinnules, abaxial and adaxial surfaces glabrous.

entire or broadly crenate;

margins nonlustrous, thin, lacking cilia or translucent projections.

dentate, sometimes deeply lobed;

margins nonlustrous, thin, with occasional glands, lacking cilia or translucent projections.

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

tips usually enlarged to form whitish hydathodes visible adaxially.