| Myriopteris lindheimeri | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Division: | Polypodiophyta |
| Class: | Polypodiopsida |
| Order: | Polypodiales |
| Family: | Pteridaceae |
| Genus: | Myriopteris |
| Species: | M. lindheimeri |
| Binomial name | |
| Myriopteris lindheimeri | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Myriopteris lindheimeri, formerly known as Cheilanthes lindheimeri, [2] is a species of fern in the Pteridaceae family (subfamily Cheilanthoideae) with the common name fairy swords. [3]
Myriopteris lindheimeri grows in dense colonies from a long creeping rhizome with brown scales. Leaves are generally lanceolate and 7–30 cm long and 2–5 cm wide with a dark brown petiole. The leaf blade is 4-pinnate at the base, grayish or silvery green on top and covered with rusty brown wooly hairs below. The rachis has scattered linear-lanceolate scales and sparse hairs. Ultimate leaf segments are round to slightly oblong, beadlike, up to 0.7–1 mm in diameter. The tops of the leaves typically have a distinctive silvery green tone. [4] [5]
Myriopteris lindheimeri is native to southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It grows on rocky slopes and ledges, on a variety of acidic to mildly basic substrates, at elevations from 200 to 2500 m. [4]
Myriopteris lindheimeri was first described by Sir William Jackson Hooker in 1852, as Cheilanthes lindheimeri, based on material collected by Ferdinand Lindheimer in western Texas in 1847. The epithet presumably honors Lindheimer. [6] While Hooker accepted the species within a broad circumscription of Cheilanthes , a classification followed by most botanists through the 20th century, his contemporary Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée preferred to separate some species into a new genus, Myriopteris based on characters of the false indusia and sori. Following this classification, John Smith transferred C. lindheimeri there as Myriopteris lindheimeri in 1854. [7]
In 1891, John Gilbert Baker described a species he called Cheilanthes albida, based on the specimen Charles Christopher Parry & Edward Palmer 999, collected by those two botanists in Central Mexico. He did not explain the epithet albida, meaning "whitish", [8] but he described it as being "densely white-hairy on both surfaces". [9] A subsequent examination of the type specimen revealed it to be the same as C. lindheimeri. [10]
By a strict application of the principle of priority, Oliver Atkins Farwell transferred the species to the genus Allosorus as Allosorus lindheimeri in 1931, that genus having been published before Cheilanthes . [11] Farwell's name was rendered unnecessary when Cheilanthes was conserved over Allosorus in the Paris Code published in 1956.
The development of molecular phylogenetic methods showed that the traditional circumscription of Cheilanthes is polyphyletic. Convergent evolution in arid environments is thought to be responsible for widespread homoplasy in the morphological characters traditionally used to classify it and the segregate genera, such as Myriopteris, that have sometimes been recognized. On the basis of molecular evidence, Amanda Grusz and Michael D. Windham revived the genus Myriopteris in 2013 for a group of species formerly placed in Cheilanthes, including Myriopteris lindheimeri. [2]
In 2018, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz transferred the species to Hemionitis as H. lindheimeri, as part of a program to consolidate the cheilanthoid ferns into that genus. [12]
Myriopteris lindheimeri is an apogamous (asexually reproducing) triploid of unknown parentage. Based on plastid DNA sequence, Myriopteris lindheimeri is part of Myriopteris clade C (covillei clade) and is very closely related to Myriopteris yavapensis . [13] It is occasionally misidentified as Myriopteris wootonii . [4] [5]
Myriopteris covillei, formerly known as Cheilanthes covillei, is a species of cheilanthoid fern known by the common name Coville's lip fern. Coville's lip fern is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico.
Myriopteris clevelandii, formerly known as Cheilanthes clevelandii, is a species of lip fern known by the common name Cleveland's lip fern. It is native to southern California and Baja California in Mexico. The leaf is divided into small, bead-like segments densely covered with scales beneath. In M. clevelandii, some of these scales are reduced to hairlike structures, which help distinguish it from the closely related M. covillei. It is usually found growing on exposed rock, particularly igneous rock.
Myriopteris cooperae, formerly Cheilanthes cooperae, is a species of lip fern known by the common name Mrs. Cooper's lip fern, or simply Cooper's lip fern. Its leaves grow in clusters and are highly dissected into oblong segments, rather than the beadlike segments found in some other members of the genus. The axes of the leaves are dark and covered in long, flattened hairs. It is endemic to California, where it grows in rocky habitats, usually over limestone. The species was named in honor of its collector, Sarah Paxson Cooper; according to Daniel Cady Eaton, who described it in 1875, it was the first fern species to be named for a female botanist.
Myriopteris gracillima, formerly known as Cheilanthes gracillima, is a species of lip fern known by the common name lace lip fern. It is native to western North America, where it grows in rocky habitat from British Columbia to California to Montana.
Myriopteris intertexta, formerly Cheilanthes intertexta, is a species of lip fern known by the common name coastal lip fern. It is native to montane California and western Nevada, Oregon east of the Cascades, and with a disjunct population in central Utah. It grows in dry rocky habitats in sun, typically in rock cracks with little or no soil.
Myriopteris tomentosa, formerly known as Cheilanthes tomentosa, is a perennial fern known as woolly lipfern. Woolly lipfern is native to the southern United States, from Virginia to Arizona and Georgia, and Mexico.
Myriopteris myriophylla, the Central American lace fern, is a species of lip fern. Despite its common name, this species is native as far south as Argentina. It is adapted to dry areas.
Myriopteris lanosa, the hairy lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of the eastern United States, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Its leaves and stem are sparsely covered in hairs, but lack scales, hence its common name. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genus Cheilanthes until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows in shallow, dry, soil, often in rocky habitats.
Myriopteris, commonly known as the lip ferns, is a genus of cheilanthoid ferns. Like other cheilanthoids, they are ferns of dry habitats, reproducing both sexually and apogamously. Many species have leaves divided into a large number of small, bead-like segments, the probable inspiration for the generic name. Hairs and/or scales are often present on both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf, and their presence and appearance are useful in distinguishing between species. The genus is most diverse in Mexico, but species are found from southwestern Canada south to southern Chile, and one species is endemic to southern Africa.
Myriopteris alabamensis, the Alabama lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of the United States and Mexico, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Unlike many members of its genus, its leaves have a few hairs on upper and lower surfaces, or lack them entirely. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genus Cheilanthes as Cheilanthes alabamensis until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows in shade on limestone outcrops.
Myriopteris maxoniana is a species of cheilanthoid fern endemic to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is known only from one collection. It closely resembles Myriopteris longipila and was not described as a distinct taxon until 2004.
Myriopteris allosuroides is a moderately-sized fern endemic to Mexico, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Unlike many members of its genus, its rachides are grooved on the upper surface and largely free of hairs or scales. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genera Cheilanthes or Pellaea until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows on dry, rocky slopes over acidic, particularly basaltic, rock.
Myriopteris aurea, the golden lip fern or Bonaire lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern native to the Americas, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Unlike many members of its genus, its leaf is only modestly dissected into lobed leaflets (pinnae), which are hairy both above and below. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, until 2013 it was classified in the genus Cheilanthes as Cheilanthes bonariensis, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows on dry, rocky slopes, and ranges from Mexico, where it is common and widespread, and the southwestern United States south and east through Central and South America as far as Chile and Argentina.
Myriopteris rufa, commonly known as Eaton's lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of Mexico and the southwestern United States, with outlying populations in Costa Rica and the Appalachian Mountains. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genus Cheilanthes, as Cheilanthes eatonii, until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows in rocky habitats, most frequently on limestone but also sometimes on basalt or shale.
Myriopteris longipila, formerly known as Cheilanthes longipila, is a species of fern endemic to Mexico. It is characterized by a dense covering of long whitish hairs.
Myriopteris wootonii, formerly known as Cheilanthes wootonii, is a species of fern in the Pteridaceae family with the common name Wooton's lace fern.
Myriopteris fendleri, formerly known as Cheilanthes fendleri, is a species of fern in the Pteridaceae family with the common name Fendler's lip fern. It is native to the southwest United States and northern Mexico.
Myriopteris yavapensis, formerly known as Cheilanthes yavapensis, is a species of cheilanthoid fern with the common name Yavapai lip fern native to the southwest United States.
Myriopteris chipinquensis is a fern endemic to Mexico, a member of the family Pteridaceae. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was classified in the genus Cheilanthes until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It grows in oak-pine forests of the Sierra Madre Oriental, often with the very similar and closely related Myriopteris tomentosa.
Myriopteris cinnamomea is a Central American fern. It is very similar to M. mickelii of southern Mexico and to other species in the "alabamensis clade" of Myriopteris. It is modestly sized, with leaves not more than 30 centimeters (12 in) long. They are divided into pinnae, which in turn are divided into lobed pinnules, and covered with pale brown hairs on the underside.
