Pellaea lyngholmii Windham:
United States (North America)

United States

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Pellaea lyngholmii is an apogamous tetraploid that arose through hybridization between P . atropurpurea and P . truncata (M. D. Windham 1993). It is most often confused with P . atropurpurea , from which P . lyngholmii differs in having sparsely villous rachises, smaller and more numerous ultimate segments, and spores usually more than 62 µm in diameter.

Stems compact, ascending, stout, 5--10 mm diam.; scales uniformly brown or tan, linear-subulate, 0.1--0.3 mm wide, thin, margins entire to denticulate. Leaves somewhat dimorphic, sterile leaves shorter and less divided than fertile leaves, clustered on stem, 10--30 cm; croziers villous. Petiole dark brown to reddish purple, lustrous, rounded adaxially, without prominent articulation lines. Blade elongate-deltate to ovate, 2-pinnate proximally, 5--15 cm wide; rachis brown or reddish purple throughout, straight, often slightly flattened adaxially, sparsely villous with long, divergent hairs. Pinnae perpendicular to rachis or slightly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 7--15 ultimate segments; costae straight, 25--80 mm, usually longer than ultimate segments. Ultimate segments oblong-lanceolate, 7--25 mm, leathery, sparsely villous abaxially near midrib; margins usually recurved on fertile segments, covering less than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders whitish, crenulate; apex slightly mucronate. Veins of ultimate segments obscure. Sporangia long-stalked, containing 32 spores, not intermixed with farina-producing glands.

Isotype for Pellaea lyngholmii Windham
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Status verified by specimen annotations only
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): M. D. Windham & D. Lyngholm
Year Collected: 1990
Locality: Yavapai Co.: Southwest side of Fay canyon ca. 1.39 km SSE of the summit of Bear Mtn. Coconino N.F. Wilson Mountain Quad (7 1/2 min.)., Yavapai, Arizona, United States, North America
Microhabitat: Growing among sandstone rocks on partially stabilized, NE-facing talus slope in evergreen woodland/chaparral community.
Elevation (m): 1455

Comments: Rocky slopes and ledges, usually on sandstone. 1200-1800 m elevation.

Sporulating summer--fall. Rocky slopes and ledges, usually on sandstone; 1200--1800 m; Ariz.

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: G2 - Imperiled

Reasons: Known only from Arizona. Abundance unknown.

Comments: Apogamous tetraploid derived from hybridization between Pellaea atropurpurea and P. truncata. Considered a hybrid by the Arizona Heritage Program.