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Cheilanthes laciniata

Description

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Genus Cheilanthes

Plants usually on rock. Stems compact to long-creeping, ascending to horizontal, usually branched; scales brown to black or often bicolored with dark central stripe and lighter margins , linear-subulate to ovate-lanceolate, margins entire or denticulate . Leaves monomorphic , clustered to widely scattered , 4--60 cm. Petiole brown to black or straw-colored, rounded , flattened, or with single longitudinal groove adaxially, pubescent , scaly , or glabrous , with a single vascular bundle. Blade linear-oblong to lanceolate, ovate , or elongate-pentagonal, pinnate-pinnatifid to 4-pinnate at base , leathery or rarely somewhat herbaceous, abaxially pubescent and/or scaly, rarely glabrous, adaxially pubescent to glabrous, dull , not striate ; rachis straight. Ultimate segments of blade stalked or sessile, usually free from costae, round to elongate or spatulate , usually less than 4 mm wide, base rounded, truncate , or cuneate; stalks (when present) often lustrous and dark colored ; segment margins usually recurved to form confluent , poorly defined false indusia, extending entire length of segment or discontinuous on apical or lateral lobes . Veins of ultimate segments free or rarely anastomosing, pinnately branched and divergent distally. False indusia greenish to whitish, usually narrow, clearly marginal or rarely inframarginal, often concealing sporangia. Sporangia confined to submarginal vein tips or scattered along veins near segment margins, containing 64 or 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands . Spores brown to black or gray, rarely yellowish, tetrahedral-globose, rugose or cristate , lacking prominent equatorial ridge . Gametophytes glabrous. x = 30 (29 in Cheilanthes alabamensis complex ).

Species ca. 150: mostly Western Hemisphere but a few in Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, and Australia.

Cheilanthes is by far the largest and most diverse genus of xeric-adapted ferns. In its classic circumscription, the genus has been notoriously difficult to distinguish from other cheilanthoid genera, especially Notholaena and Pellaea (R. M. Tryon and A. F. Tryon 1982). This has led some authors (e.g. , J. T. Mickel 1979b) to abandon several of the segregate genera and greatly expand the number of species assigned to Cheilanthes. Taxonomic problems in this group have motivated an ongoing series of biosystematic studies that offer hope for a stable classification through the identification of natural, monophyletic groups. The circumscription of Cheilanthes has been clarified recently by a redefinition of Notholaena and the transfer of several species (e.g., N. parryi, N. newberryi, and N. aurea ) to Cheilanthes (R. M. Tryon and A. F. Tryon 1982). The boundaries of the genus have been further sharpened by the recognition of Aspidotis (A. R. Smith 1975), Argyrochosma (M. D. Windham 1987), and Astrolepis (D. M. Benham and M. D. Windham 1992) as distinct genera. Despite these efforts , Cheilanthes remains a very heterogeneous (and probably polyphyletic) genus in need of further critical study.

The circumscription of Cheilanthes used here closely parallels that proposed by T. Reeves (1979), who recognized four New World subgenera and a small group of species of uncertain placement. Among the North American species, C. pringlei and C. wrightii belong to the latter group, and C. arizonica is the sole representative of subgenus Othonoloma Link ex C. Christensen. The subgenus that Reeves called the Cheilanthes alabamensis group is represented in North America by C. aemula, C. alabamensis, C. microphylla, and C. horridula. It differs from other members of the genus in a number of critical features (e.g., blade indument, sporangial distribution, and chromosome base number ) that suggest a relationship to the genus Pellaea. Although the group is somewhat anomalous in Cheilanthes, inclusion of the C. alabamensis complex in Pellaea (e.g., R. Cranfill 1980) would make that genus polyphyletic. The group is maintained here in Cheilanthes with the recognition that it may constitute a natural group worthy of consideration as a distinct genus.

The remaining 21 North American species of Cheilanthes are almost evenly divided between subgenus Physapteris (C. Presl) Baker in Hooker & Baker and subgenus Cheilanthes. The former subgenus is characterized by T. Reeves (1979) as having noncircinate vernation , usually scaly blades with small, beadlike ultimate segments, and hairs with cell walls that fit together in "tongue and groove" fashion. Species of subgenus Cheilanthes typically have circinate vernation, nonscaly blades with larger ultimate segments, and hairs with straight cross-walls. Despite the consistency of these differences, the two groups are closely related and linked by occasional intersubgeneric hybridization between C. covillei (subg. Physapteris ) and C. parryi and C. newberryi (subg. Cheilanthes ).[1]

Habitat

Ecology: Was found in rocky areas in dry shrubland (1,500–2,000 m ).[2]


List of Habitats :3.5Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 5.1Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls )

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Sod. Publication : Cr . vasc. quit. 79. 1893 1893

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Cheilanthes

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 449 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

C. acrostcia · C. acrostica · C. acrosticha · C. aculeata · C. adiantoides · C. aemula (Texas Lip Fern) · C. affinis · C. agetae · C. alabamensis (Alabama Lip Fern) · C. albida · C. albofusca · C. albomarginata · C. allosuroides · C. alpina · C. amaurorachis · C. amaurorhachis · C. ambigua · C. amoena · C. anceps · C. andina · C. angustiflia · C. angustifolia · C. angustifolia var. cuneata · C. angustifrondosa · C. anosa · C. anthriscifolia · C. aquilinaris · C. arabica · C. arborescens · C. arequipensis · C. argentea · C. argentea var. obscura · C. arizonica (Arizona Lip Fern) · C. aschenborniana · C. aspera · C. aspidioides · C. aurantia · C. aurantiaca · C. aurea · C. auriculata · C. austrotenuifolia (Green Rockfern) · C. balansae · C. beitelii · C. belangeri · C. bergiana · C. bicolor · C. bockii · C. bolborrhiza · C. boliviana · C. boltoni · C. bolusii · C. bonariensis (Golden Cloak Fern) · C. borsigiana · C. botswanae · C. brachypus · C. bradburii · C. brandegeei · C. brandegei · C. brandtii · C. brasiliensis · C. brownii · C. bryopoda · C. buchtienii · C. bullosa · C. caesia · C. californica · C. californica var. amoena · C. canescens · C. cantangensis · C. capensis · C. carlotta-halliae · C. castanea · C. catanensis · C. caudata · C. cavernicola · C. chaerophylla · C. chilensis · C. chipinquensis · C. chlorophylla · C. chrysophylla · C. chusana · C. cinnamomea · C. clelandii · C. clevelandii (Cleveland's Lip Fern) · C. colvillei · C. commutata · C. complanata · C. complanata var. interrupta · C. concinna · C. concolor · C. contigua · C. contracta · C. cooperae (Cooper's Lipfern) · C. coriacea · C. cornuta · C. corsica · C. covillei (Coville's Lip Fern) · C. covillei var. intermixta · C. crassifolia · C. crenata

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Michael D. Windham, Eric W. Rabe "Cheilanthes". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Navarrete, H. & Pitman, N. 2003. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-07-03