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Notholaena aschenborniana Klotzsch 1847

Scaly Cloakfern

Carl Rothfels
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Containing group: core Notholaena

Introduction

Notholaena aschenborniana is widespread in Mexico, and enters the United States in southern Arizona and western Texas (where it is rare: S1 in Arizona and S2 in Texas; NatureServe, 2008). It is restricted to rocky habitats, usually on limestone. All populations studied to date are triploid (they have three complete chromosome sets) and reproduce asexually through apogamy (the sporophytes produce unreduced spores, which develop into triploid gametophytes, which then produce a new sporophyte directly from their vegetative tissue, without sexual reproduction; Windham, 1993a; Windham and Yatskievych, 2003)

Characteristics

At first glance, N. aschenborniana is likely to be mistaken for a Cheilanthes, due to its copious covering of scales on the undersides of its leaves. Underneath the scales, however, is a layer of farina typical of core Notholaena species. The stiff ascending leaves of this species are lanceolate, 2- to 3-pinnate, and are supported by thick scaly stalks. Within Notholaena, it is most likely to be confused with the similarly scaly N. galeottii, but N. galeottii has stiff undivided hairs on the upper surface of the leaves, whereas N. aschenborniana has stellate (star-shaped) hairs.

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Top: Notholaena aschenborniana (the gray colour of the leaf upper surfaces is due to the stellate hairs). Bottom: Notholaena galeottii. © 2009 Carl Rothfels

 

Other Names for Notholaena aschenborniana Klotzsch 1847

References

Giauque, M. F. A. 1949. Wax glands and prothallia. American Fern Journal 39:33-35.

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. www.natureserve.org/explorer/

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.

Tryon, R. M. 1956. A revision of the American species of Notholaena. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 179:1-106.

Windham, M. D. 1993a. Notholaena. Pages 143--149 in Flora of North America (Flora of North American Editorial Committee, ed.) Oxford University Press, New York.

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.

Wollenweber, E. 1984. Exudate flavonoids of Mexican ferns as chemotaxonomic markers. Rev. Latinoamer. Quim. 15:3-11.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Notholaena aschenborniana
Location USA, Arizona
Comments The farina characteristic of all members of the core Notholaena are present in this species, too, but hidden under a dense layer of scales.
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Michael Windham
Life Cycle Stage sporophyte
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2008 Carl Rothfels
Scientific Name Notholaena aschenborniana
Location USA, Arizona, Cochise's Stronghold
Acknowledgements Reproduced, with permission, from Arizona Ferns
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By J. Metzgar
Life Cycle Stage sporophyte
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2005 Jordan Metzgar
About This Page

Carl Rothfels
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Carl Rothfels at

Page: Tree of Life Notholaena aschenborniana Klotzsch 1847. Scaly Cloakfern. Authored by Carl Rothfels. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Rothfels, Carl. 2010. Notholaena aschenborniana Klotzsch 1847. Scaly Cloakfern. Version 07 January 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Notholaena_aschenborniana/133590/2010.01.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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