Cheilanthes leucopoda Link 1841

Introduction

Cheilanthes leucopoda is a small- to medium-sized fern with pentagonal glandular-hairy leaves. It occurs in central and northern Mexico, where it can be common, and penetrates into the United States in the Edwards Plateau of Texas (where it is rare—S2; NatureServe, 2008). It shares many features with the species of the myriopterid clade (leaf margins differentiated and recurved into false indusia, discontinuous sori concentrated on the segment tips, etc.), but is only distantly related to them, and will require a new name (either under Notholaena, or as a new genus; Rothfels et al., 2008).

Characteristics

Cheilanthes leucopoda is a species of limestone cliffs and slopes, at middle elevations. Its distinct 4-pinnate pentagonal leaves are borne on thick but weak, straw-colored stalks that are often twice as long as the leaf blades themselves, giving the plants a rather umbrella-like appearance. The leaves and stalks are densely covered with short glandular hairs.

Other Names for Cheilanthes leucopoda Link 1841

• Vernacular Names: Whitefoot Fern, White-foot Lipfern

References

Gastony, G. J., and D. R. Rollo. 1995. Phylogeny and generic circumscriptions of cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) inferred from rbcL nucleotide sequences. American Fern Journal 85:341-360.

Gastony, G. J., and D. R. Rollo. 1998. Cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) in the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico--A molecular phylogenetic reassessment of generic lines. Aliso 17:131-144.

Kramer, K. U. 1990. Notes on the higher level classification of the recent ferns. Pages 49--52 in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (K. U. Kramer, and P. S. Green, eds.). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Mickel, J. T. 1979. The fern genus Cheilanthes in continental United States. Phytologia 41:431-437.

Mickel, J. T., and A. R. Smith. 2004. The Pteridophytes of Mexico. The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York.

NatureServe. 2008. NatureServe Explorer, Arlington, Virginia.

Rothfels, C. J., M. D. Windham, A. L. Grusz, G. J. Gastony, and K. M. Pryer. 2008. Toward a monophyletic Notholaena (Pteridaceae): Resolving patterns of evolutionary convergence in xeric-adapted ferns Taxon 57:712-724.

Schuettpelz, E., H. Schneider, L. Huiet, M. D. Windham, and

Tryon, R. M., and A. F. Tryon. 1973. Geography, spores, and evolutionary relations in the cheilanthoid ferns. Pages 145-153 in The phylogeny and classification of ferns. (A. C. Jermy, J. A. Crabbe, and B. A. Thomas, eds.). Academic Press, New York.

Tryon, R. M., and A. F. Tryon. 1982. Ferns and Allied Plants with Special Reference to Tropical America. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Tryon, R. M., A. F. Tryon, and K. U. Kramer. 1990. Pteridaceae. Pages 404 in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (K. U. Kramer, and P. S. Green, eds.). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Windham, M. D. 1993b. Pteridaceae. Pages 122--124 in Flora of North America (Flora of North American Editorial Committee, ed.) Oxford University Press, New York.

Windham, M. D., L. Huiet, E. Schuettpelz, C. J. Rothfels, J. Beck, A. L. Grusz, G. Yatskievych, and K. M. Pryer. 2008. Using plastid and nuclear DNA sequences to redraw generic boundaries and demystify species complexes in cheilanthoid ferns. American Fern Journal (in review).

Windham, M. D., and G. Yatskievych. 2003. Chromosome studies of cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) from the western United States and Mexico. American Journal of Botany 90:1788-1800.