Hardy Fern Home

Pellaea resources
Flora
Flora of North AmericaFlora of North America
Taxonomy
Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemIntegrated Taxonomic Information System

All Ferns
  Pteridaceae
   Pellaea
     atropurpurea
     breweri
     bridgesii
     glabella
     mucronata

 Other Genera
    Adiantum  Arachniodes
    Aspidotis  Asplenium
    Astrolepis  Athyrium
    Blechnum  Cheilanthes
    Cryptogramma  Cyrtomium
    Cystopteris  Dennstaedtia
    Deparia  Diplazium
    Dryopteris  Gymnocarpium
    Lygodium  Matteuccia
    Onoclea  Oreopteris
    Osmunda  Phegopteris
    Pleopeltis  Polypodium
    Polystichum  Pteridium
    Pteris  Pyrrosia
    Thelypteris  Woodsia
    Woodwardia
 
Pellaea Link (Pteridaceae) Earlier placement: Adiantaceae, Cheilanthaceae, Sinopteridaceae

Cliff brake

Etymology From the Greek pellos, dusky, describing the bluish-gray coloring.
Description Rhizome: short to long-creeping, bicolorous scales with a central stripe or brown.
Frond: evergreen, monomorphic to somewhat dimorphic.
Stipe: dark, shiny, rounded, flattened or with single longitudinal groove above, glabrous or pubescent, usually with a few scales at base, vascular bundles: 1.
Blade: 1-3 pinnate with terminal leaflet, linear to ovate-deltate, leathery or rarely somewhat herbaceous, below glabrous, pubescent, or with hairlike scales scattered along costae, above usually glabrous.
segments broad, stalked or sessile, veins free or rarely netted.
Sori: oblong or linearly joined, submarginal, indusium: absent or false, sporangia: brown.
Distinctive Characteristics dark, shiny stipes, 1-(or 2- or 3-)pinnately-divided blades with a terminal leaflet, and a false indusium.
Pellaea atropupurea
Pellaea atropurpurea.  Photo: Tim Kessenich, from the Wisconsin State Herbarium web site
Valid XHTML 1.0     Reports of errors and omissions appreciated: toms AT hardyfernlibrary.com (please replace the AT with @)