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Aspidotis carlotta-halliae

(Carlotta Hall's Lace Fern)

Overview

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Vulnerable
Threat status

Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Carlotta Hall's Lace Fern, Tufted Lacefern

Description

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Genus Aspidotis

Plants terrestrial or on rock. Stems ± compact , short-creeping, ascending at tip , branched; scales mostly dark brown, often with very narrow margin of lighter color, lanceolate, margins entire. Leaves monomorphic to somewhat dimorphic , crowded, 8--35 cm. Petiole usually dark reddish brown, with single groove adaxially, glabrous , with single vascular bundle. Blade ovate-triangular, deltate, or pentagonal , 3--4(--5) -pinnate, thick to thin, abaxially glabrous, adaxially lustrous, striate , glabrous; rachis straight. Ultimate segments of blades short-stalked or with base narrowed and decurrent onto costa or costule-bearing segments, linear to lanceolate, mostly 0.5--1.3 mm wide; stalks greenish, not darkened; fertile margins recurved. Veins of ultimate segments obscure , free , ± pinnate and unbranched. False indusia appearing inframarginal, scarious , whitish, broad, partly concealing sporangia. Sporangia in marginal , discrete or continuous sori on abaxial surface, containing 64 spores, lacking paraphyses and glands . Spores dark brown, tetrahedral-globose, trilete, reticulate , equatorial flange absent. x = 30.

Species 4: North America, 1 in Mexico.

Terrestrial, often at bases of boulders or in rock crevices, in dry to moist, montane areas, woodlands or chaparral , sometimes on ultramafic rocks.

D. B . Lellinger (1968) recognized Aspidotis as separate from Cheilanthes based on its elongate , distantly dentate segments with striate shining surface and on its broad, scarious indusia.[1]

Physical Description

Species Aspidotis carlotta-halliae

Leaves monomorphic or weakly subdimorphic, 10--30 cm. Blade 4-pinnate, 3--12 cm, nearly as wide as long, thin to thick. Ultimate segments narrowly lanceolate to deltate, 2--6 mm; midrib obscure or evident abaxially. Sori of mature blades ± discrete to usually subcontinuous, 3--7(--9) per segment; indusia semicircular to usually elongate and connecting several adjacent sori, margins with 6--10 irregular and prominent teeth and/or lobes . 2 n = 120. [source]

Aspidotis carlotta-halliae is a fertile allotetraploid species derived from hybridization between A. californica and A. densa. Occasional sterile backcrosses are found. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Habitat

Generally on serpentine slopes , in crevices, and on rock outcrops; 100--1400 m [2].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Cheilanthes carlotta-halliae W. H. Wagner & E. F. Gilbert, Amer. J. Bot. 44: 738, Figs. 1b, 2b, 2e. 1957

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Aspidotis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. californica (California Lace Fern) · A. carlotta-halliae (Carlotta Hall's Lace Fern) · A. densa (Indian's Dream) · A. meifolia · A. schimperi · A. carlotta-halliae

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 01, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Alan R. Smith "Aspidotis". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Aspidotis carlotta-halliae". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009