• Source: Myriopteris gracilis

Myriopteris gracilis, formerly known as Cheilanthes feei, is a species of lip fern known by the common name slender lip fern or Fee's lip fern.




Description



Myriopteris gracilis grows from a short creeping rhizome with pale to red-brown scales usually with a dark mid-stripe. The leaves are gray to pale green and 6 to 18 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm wide. Each leaflet on the leaf is divided into lobes which are divided once more into rounded segments (3-pinnate). The undersides of the segments are concave and densely covered with short pale to dark tan hairs. The sori line the edges of the segment undersides and may be buried under the hairs. The fern reproduces asexually by apogamy.




Distribution and habitat


Myriopteris gracilis is native to much of western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to northern Mexico, and throughout much of the central United States. It is found in rocky areas, generally on calcareous rock such as limestone where it grows in cracks and crevices.




Taxonomy


Myriopteris gracilis was first described by Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée in 1852, based on material collected by Nicholas Riehl near Hillsboro, Missouri. Fée recognized Myriopteris as a new genus containing some highly-dissected American ferns placed by other authors in Cheilanthes, and described a few new species, including M. gracilis, which he considered to be closely related. Most contemporary authors preferred to recognize a broad concept of Cheilanthes, including Myriopteris. Thomas Moore transferred the species to that genus as Cheilanthes feei in 1857, as the name Cheilanthes gracilis had already been used for a different fern. The existing use of that name had been overlooked by Riehl, who labeled some of his specimens C. gracilis, and Georg Heinrich Mettenius published it as a name for Fée's species in 1859.
Based on plastid DNA sequence analysis Myriopteris gracilis is part of the lanosa clade of Myriopteris. Its closest analyzed relatives are Myriopteris parryi and Myriopteris longipila.




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References






External links



Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Myriopteris gracilis
USDA Plants Profile
Flora of North America
Photo gallery

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Myriopteris gracilis
• Myriopteris
• Myriopteris scabra
• Myriopteris tomentosa
• Sarah Paxon Moore Cooper
• List of descriptive plant species epithets (I–Z)
• List of flora of Utah