Woodsia phillipsii |
Woodsia ilvensis |
|
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Phillips' cliff fern |
oblong woodsia, rusty cliff fern, rusty woodsia, woodsie de l'île d'elbe |
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Stems | compact to short-creeping, erect to horizontal, with few to many persistent petiole bases of unequal lengths; scales mostly uniformly brown but at least some bicolored with dark central stripe and pale brown margins, narrowly lanceolate. |
compact, erect to ascending, with abundant persistent petiole bases of ± equal length; scales uniformly brown, lanceolate. |
Leaves | 5–35 × 1.5–6 cm. |
4.5–25 × 1.2–3.5 cm. |
Petiole | light brown or straw-colored when mature, occasionally darker at very base, not articulate above base, relatively brittle and easily shattered. |
usually brown or dark purple when mature, articulate above base at swollen node, relatively brittle and easily shattered. |
Blade | lanceolate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, sparsely to moderately glandular, never viscid; glandular hairs with thin stalks and slightly expanded tips; rachis with scattered glandular hairs and hairlike scales. |
narrowly lanceolate, usually 2-pinnate proximally, lacking glands, never viscid; rachis usually with abundant hairs and scales. |
Pinnae | elongate-deltate to elliptic, longer than wide, often attenuate to a narrowly acute apex; largest pinnae with 7–18 pairs of widely spaced pinnules; abaxial and adaxial surfaces somewhat glandular, lacking nonglandular hairs or scales. |
ovate-lanceolate to deltate, longer than wide, abruptly tapered to a rounded or broadly acute apex; largest pinnae with 4–9 pairs of pinnules; abaxial surface with mixture of hairs and linear-lanceolate scales, adaxial surface with multicellular hairs concentrated along midrib. |
Indusia | of narrow, filamentous segments, these uniseriate for most of length, composed of ± isodiametric cells, often greatly surpassing mature sporangia. |
of narrow, hairlike segments, these uniseriate throughout, composed of cells many times longer than wide, usually surpassing mature sporangia. |
Spores | averaging 37–44 µm. 2n = 76. |
averaging 39–46 µm. 2n = 82. |
Pinnules | dentate, often shallowly lobed; margins often lustrous adaxially, somewhat thickened, with occasional glands, appearing ciliate due to presence of multicellular translucent projections on teeth that are often prolonged to form twisted filaments. |
entire or crenate, rarely shallowly lobed; margins nonlustrous, thin, ciliate with multicellular hairs, lacking translucent projections. |
Vein | tips usually enlarged to form whitish hydathodes visible adaxially. |
tips frequently enlarged to form whitish hydathodes visible adaxially. |
Woodsia phillipsii |
Woodsia ilvensis |
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Phenology | Sporulating summer–fall. | Sporulating summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Cliffs and rocky slopes, usually on granitic or volcanic substrates | Cliffs and rocky slopes, found on variety of substrates including serpentine |
Elevation | 1600–3200 m (5200–10500 ft) | 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
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AK; CT; IA; IL; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VA; VT; WI; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; n Eurasia
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Discussion | Woodsia phillipsii traditionally has been identified as W. mexicana. It differs from typical W. mexicana, however, in having completely filamentous indusial segments, multicellular (often filamentous) translucent projections on the pinnule margins, a greater number of pinnules per pinna, and a diploid chromosome number. Woodsia phillipsii is the only diploid species currently recognized in the W. mexicana complex, and it was probably involved in the hybrid origins of both W. mexicana and W. neomexicana. Some individuals of the latter species are difficult to distinguish from W. phillipsii (see comments under W. neomexicana), and the two taxa occasionally hybridize to produce sterile triploids of intermediate morphology. Woodsia phillipsii is also known to hybridize with W. plummerae (see comments under that species) and W. cochisensis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Although generally separable by the characters given in the key, shade forms of Woodsia ilvensis with a reduced number of scales and hairs are occasionally misidentified as W. alpina. The morphologic distinctions between these species are further blurred by natural hybridization, which produces the intermediate triploid known as W. × gracilis. Some of the best characters for distinguishing these taxa are spore size and morphology. Spores average less than 46 µm in W. ilvensis, more than 46 µm in W. alpina, and are malformed and abortive in W. × gracilis. Woodsia ilvensis also hybridizes with W. oregana subsp. cathcartiana to form the sterile triploid W. × abbeae (F. S. Wagner 1987). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | Dryopteridaceae > Woodsia | Dryopteridaceae > Woodsia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Acrostichum ilvense | |
Name authority | Windham: Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 19: 50. (1993) | (Linnaeus) R. Brown: Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 11: 173. (1813) |
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