- Source: Myriopteris lendigera
Myriopteris lendigera is a species of cheilanthoid fern with the common name nit-bearing lip fern.
Description
Myriopteris lendigera grows from long creeping rhizomes 1–3 mm in diameter with dark brown scales. Leaves can be scattered or clustered and range in length from 5 to 30 cm. The petiole is usually dark brown. The leaf blade is ovate-deltate to oblong-lanceolate and usually 4-pinnate (subdivided 3 times) at the leaf base. The blade is 1.5 to 8 cm (0.6 to 3.1 in) wide. The ultimate leaflet segments are round to slightly oblong and appear beadlike, with a diameter of 1–3 mm. Their abaxial (lower) surface is sparsely to moderately pubescent with coarse hairs and the adaxial (upper) surface is glabrous. Each leaflet curls under at the edge to form a false indusim. The spore-bearing sori are usually continuous around segment margins.
Range and habitat
Myriopteris lendigera is native to mountains in central and northern Mexico, Central America, Arizona and Texas in the United States, and extends into northeastern South America. It grows on rocky slopes and ledges, usually on igneous substrates, at altitudes from 1,300 to 2,400 m (4,300 to 7,900 ft).
Taxonomy
The species was first described as Pteris lendigera by Antonio José Cavanilles in 1802, based on specimens collected by Luis Née in South America. He did not explain his choice of epithet, which means "nit-bearing". It probably refers to the small, round shape of the leaf segments and the broad false indusium nearly covering their underside, which gives them an appearance similar to small beads or nits. In 1806, Olof Swartz transferred the species to the genus Cheilanthes as Cheilanthes lendigera. This placement would be widely accepted over the next two centuries, despite alternative arrangements, such as its transfer to Adiantum as A. lendigerum by Jean Louis Marie Poiret in Lamarck's Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique in 1810.
References
= Works cited
== Citations
=Media related to Myriopteris lendigera at Wikimedia Commons
