Woodsia obtusa
blunt-lobe woodsia, blunt-lobed cliff fern, bluntlobe cliff fern, woodsie à lobes arrondis
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.
8–60 × 2.5–12 cm.
light brown or straw-colored when mature, occasionally darker at very base, not articulate above base, relatively brittle and easily shattered.
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 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 35–47 µm.
dentate, sometimes deeply lobed;
margins nonlustrous, thin, with occasional glands, lacking cilia or translucent projections.
tips usually enlarged to form whitish hydathodes visible adaxially.
Woodsia obtusa
Woodsia obtusa comprises two cytotypes that are treated here as subspecies because they show subtle morphologic and ecological distinctions and tend to have different distributions. Tetraploid populations (subsp. obtusa) are found throughout the eastern flora, commonly occurring on limestone. The diploid (subsp. occidentalis) is found near the western edge of the species range, usually on sandstone and granitic substrates. Isozyme studies suggest that subsp. obtusa may have been derived from subsp. occidentalis through autopolyploidy (M. D. Windham 1993). The westernmost collections of Woodsia obtusa (all subsp. occidentalis) come from the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma and the Edwards Plateau of Texas. Reports of this species from the trans-Pecos region of western Texas are apparently based on misidentifications.
Subspecies 2.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Spores averaging 42-47 µm; proximal pinnules of lower pinnae usually shallowly lobed or merely dentate; blades coarsely cut and evidently 2-pinnate; stems compact to short-creeping, individual branches usually 5-10 mm diam. | subsp. obtusa |
1. Spores averaging 35-42 µm; proximal pinnules of lower pinnae usually deeply lobed or pinnatifid; blades finely cut, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid; stems short- to long-creeping, individual branches 3-5 mm diam. | subsp. occidentalis |
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