Woodsia glabella
Woodsia plummerae
smooth cliff fern, smooth woodsia, woodsie glabre
Plummer's cliff fern, Plummer's woodsia
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.
3.5–15 × 0.5–1.2 cm.
5–25 × 1.5–6 cm.
green or straw-colored throughout, articulate above base at swollen node, somewhat pliable and resistant to shattering.
reddish brown to dark purple when mature, not articulate above base, somewhat pliable and resistant to shattering.
linear to linear-lanceolate, pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, glabrous or with occasional sessile glands, never viscid;
rachis glabrous.
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-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 39–45 µm. 2n = 78.
averaging 44–50 µm. 2n = 152.
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, often shallowly lobed;
margins nonlustrous, thin, densely glandular, lacking cilia but with occasional 1–2-celled translucent projections.
tips slightly (if at all) enlarged, barely visible adaxially.
tips slightly (if at all) enlarged, barely visible adaxially.
Woodsia glabella
Woodsia plummerae
Woodsia glabella is a well-marked species occasionally confused with narrow, glabrescent forms of W. alpina and W. oregana subsp. oregana. These taxa are readily distinguished from W. glabella by their petioles, which are reddish brown or dark purple near the base.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The origin and phylogenetic affinities of the tetraploid Woodsia plummerae have not been established with certainty. The hypothesis that it arose as a hybrid between the Mexican species W. mollis (Kaulfuss) J. Smith and W. mexicana Fée (D. F. M. Brown 1964; D. B. Lellinger 1985) seems untenable in light of recent chromosome studies indicating that the latter species is also tetraploid (M. D. Windham 1993). On the basis of sporophyte morphology and spore ornamentation, W. plummerae appears most closely related to the W. mexicana complex and W. oregana. In fact, W. oregana can be difficult to separate from W. plummerae in western New Mexico and northern Arizona. Intermediate plants occurring in this region may represent stable allotetraploids resulting from hybridization between the diploid progenitors of W. plummerae and W. oregana subsp. cathcartiana. Considering the available evidence, populations of W. plummerae in the United States probably originated through autopolyploidy from a recently discovered, but as yet unnamed, Mexican diploid of similar morphology. Woodsia plummerae occasionally hybridizes with W. phillipsii to produce sterile, morphologically intermediate triploids.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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