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.