TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL	previous taxon | next taxon Jepson Interchange (more information)
	©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California Print edition is available from the University of California Press

	The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press
	See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition

PTERIDACEAE

BRAKE FAMILY

Alan R. Smith and Thomas Lemieux

Perennial, in soil or on or among rocks; rhizome creeping to erect, scaly
Leaves generally all ± alike (or of 2 kinds, fertile and sterile), generally < 50 cm, often < 25 cm; petiole generally thin, wiry, often dark, in transverse section with vascular strands generally 1–3, less often many in a circle; blade generally pinnate or ± palmate-pinnate (see Adiantum ), often 2 or more compound, lower surface often with glands, ± powdery exudate, hairs, or scales; segments round, oblong, fan-shaped, or otherwise, veins generally free
Sporangia in sori or not, marginal, submarginal, or along veins, sometimes covered by recurved, often modified segment margins (false indusia); true indusia 0; spores spheric, sides sometimes flat, scar with 3 radiating branches
Genera in family: ± 40 genera, 500 species: worldwide, especially dry areas. Definition of Cheilanthes and related genera problematic; traditional limits often untenable.

PELLAEA

CLIFF-BRAKE

Plant in soil or rock crevices; rhizome short- to long-creeping, scales overlapping, narrowly linear, light- to reddish or medium-brown, often with darker mid-stripe
Leaves erect, persistent, < 1 m; petioles ± cylindric, generally dark or reddish brown to blackish, ± shiny, glabrous; blade 1–4-pinnate; segments generally stalked, generally free, linear to rounded, lobed or not, often folded lengthwise when dried; veins generally free
Sporangia in ± continuous, submarginal bands, among a whitish to yellowish exudate or not; segment margin generally recurved, generally modified; spores tan to light yellow
Species in genus: ± 35 species: tropical, temp, few in Eur, 0 in Asia
Etymology: (Greek: dusky, from bluish gray leaves)
Reference: [Tryon 1957 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 44(2):125–193]
Not commonly cultivated.

Native

P. andromedifolia (Kaulf.) Fée

COFFEE FERN

Rhizome long-creeping, branched, > 20 cm, 0.5 cm wide; scales 2–3 mm, tan to orange-brown, with darker mid-stripe or not
Leaves ± unclustered, 20–60(80) cm, 10–20(30) cm wide, green to purplish; petiole < ± 3 mm wide, ± light brown; blade 2–4-, generally 3-pinnate, elongate-triangular; segments generally 6–15 mm, 3–10 mm wide, tip ± rounded to obtuse, notched or not
Sporangia 32- or 64- spored
Chromosomes: 2n=58,87
Ecology: Generally rocky or dry areas
Elevation: 30–1800 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range Foothills, Sierra Nevada, Central Western California, Southwestern California
Distribution outside California: Baja California
CA plants diploid (assignable to var. rubens D.C. Eaton) or triploid; hairy plants near coast in s CA and on ChI have been called var. pubescens D.C. Eaton
Horticultural information: SHD, DRN, DRY: 15, 16, 17 &IRR: 7, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.