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Pellaea mucronata var. californica


Higher Taxonomy
Family: PteridaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: BRAKE FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, in soil or on or among rocks; rhizome creeping to erect, scaly. Leaf: generally all +- alike (or of 2 kinds, fertile, sterile), generally < 50 cm, often < 25 cm; stipe generally thin, wiry, often dark, ×-section with vascular strands generally 1--3, less often many in circle; blade generally pinnate or +- palmate-pinnate (see Adiantum), often >= 2-compound, abaxially often with glands, +- powdery exudate, hairs, or scales; segments round, oblong, fan-shaped, or other, veins generally free. Sporangia: in sori or not, marginal, submarginal, or along veins, covered by recurved, often modified segment margins (false indusia) or not; true indusia 0; spores spheric, sides flat or not, scar with 3 radiating branches.
Genera In Family: +- 40 genera, 500 species: worldwide, especially dry areas. Note: CA members of Cheilanthes moved to the distantly related Myriopteris; Pellaea breweri to be moved as well, from a to-be-redefined Pellaea; traditional, often untenable limits of genera outside CA also being clarified using molecular phylogenetics.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ruth E.B. Kirkpatrick, Alan R. Smith & Thomas Lemieux, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Alan R. Smith, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: PellaeaView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: CLIFF-BRAKE
Habit: Plant in soil or rock crevices; rhizome short- to long-creeping, scales overlapped, narrowly linear, light- to red- or medium-brown, often with dark mid-stripe. Leaf: erect, persistent, < 1 m; stipes +- cylindric, generally dark or red-brown to +- black, +- 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 +- white to +- yellow exudate or not; segment margin generally recurved, generally modified; spores tan to light yellow.
Etymology: (Greek: dusky, from blue-gray leaves) Note: Occasionally cultivated. Molecular data suggest Pellaea in the sense of Tryon (1957) is polyphyletic with monophyletic Astrolepis and Pellaea sect. Platyloma, as well as elements of Paragymnopteris and Paraceterach nested within (Kirkpatrick, 2007).
eFlora Treatment Author: Ruth E.B. Kirkpatrick, Alan R. Smith, Thomas Lemieux & Edward Alverson
Reference: Kirkpatrick 2007 Syst Bot 32:504--518
Unabridged Reference: Kirkpatrick, R.E.B. 2007. Investigating the monophyly of Pellaea (Pteridaceae) in the context of a phylogenetic analysis of cheilanthoid ferns. Syst Bot 32:504--518; Tryon 1957 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 44(2):125--193
Species: Pellaea mucronataView Description 


Common Name: BIRD'S-FOOT FERN
Habit: Rhizome short-creeping, branched, > 8 cm, 0.5--1 cm wide; scales +- brown, mid-stripe dark. Leaf: +- clustered, +- green to +- purple; stipe < 2(3) mm wide; blade 2--3(4)-pinnate, narrowly triangular to oblong; segments 2--6(8) mm, 0.5--2(4) mm wide, linear to oblong, with mucro. Sporangia: 64-spored. Chromosomes: 2n=58.

Pellaea mucronata (D.C. Eaton) D.C. Eaton var. californica (Lemmon) Munz & I.M. Johnst.
NATIVE
Leaf: 15--25(33) cm, 2--4(8) cm wide; blade 2-pinnate; pinnae often overlapped, ascending; fertile segments generally appearing folded in half, recurved margins +- meeting abaxially.
Ecology: Rocky or dry areas; Elevation: 1800--3000 m. Bioregional Distribution: c&s SNH, TR, PR, SNE, DMtns (exc Providence, New York mtns).
Synonyms: Pellaea wrightiana Hook. var. californica Lemmon
Jepson eFlora Author: Ruth E.B. Kirkpatrick, Alan R. Smith, Thomas Lemieux & Edward Alverson
Reference: Kirkpatrick 2007 Syst Bot 32:504--518
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Botanical illustration including Pellaea mucronata var. californicabotanical illustration including Pellaea mucronata var. californica


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Citation for this treatment: Ruth E.B. Kirkpatrick, Alan R. Smith, Thomas Lemieux & Edward Alverson 2012, Pellaea mucronata var. californica, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=63200, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Pellaea mucronata  
var. californica
click for image enlargement
©2015 Keir Morse
Pellaea mucronata  
var. californica
click for image enlargement
©2015 Keir Morse
Pellaea mucronata  
var. californica
click for image enlargement
©2015 Keir Morse
Pellaea mucronata  
var. californica
click for image enlargement
©2015 Keir Morse
Pellaea mucronata  
var. californica
click for image enlargement
©2015 Keir Morse

More photos of Pellaea mucronata var. californica
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Pellaea mucronata var. californica:
c&s SNH, TR, PR, SNE, DMtns (exc Providence, New York mtns).
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map of distribution 1

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).






 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.

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All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
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CCH collections by month Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).