30 



POLYPODIACEAE 



2. Pellaea bridgesii Hook. 

 Bridges' Cliff-brake. Fig. 59. 



PcIlaca bridgesii Hook. Sp. Fil. 2: 238. pi. 142. B. 1858. 



Rhizome short-creeping, often massive, the divisions short, 

 close ; scales tufted, brown in mass, narrowly linear-attenuate, 

 5-7 mm. long, mostly with a narrow, thick, blackish stripe, 

 the thin pale margins denticulate. Fronds numerous, closely 

 tufted, 8-35 cm. long; stipes 4-21 cm. long, castaneous, lus- 

 trous, long-persistent ; blades linear to oblong-linear, 4-14 cm. 

 long, 1-2.5 cm. broad, once pinnate, glabrous; pinnae 5-16 

 pairs and a terminal one, in fully fertile fronds subequal, 

 mostl.v opposite, sessile, broadly oval to cordate-oblong, usually 

 conduplicate and falcate ; sterile pinnae suborbicular, usually 

 flat ; sporangia decurrent in a broad intramarginal band, not 

 at all concealed by the narrow, whitish, cartilaginous, re- 

 flexed, wrinkled or plane border ; leaf tissue coriaceous, 

 grayish green, glaucous. 



Rock-slopes and crevices of cliffs, mainly in the Canadian Zone; 

 higher Sierra Nevada, California, from Nevada County southward to 

 Mineral King, Tulare County; also in Boise National Forest, Idaho. 

 Type locality: Sierra Nevada. 



3. Pellaea suksdorfiana Butters. 

 Suksdorf's Clift'-brake. Fig. 60. 



Pellaea glabella simplex Butters, Am. Fern Journ. 7: 84. 1917. 

 Pellaea suksdorfiana Butters, Am. Fern Journ. 11: 40. 1921. 



Rhizomes tufted, the divisions stout, subglobose, 1-1.5 cm. 

 thick ; scales closely tufted, dark cinnamomeous in mass, nar- 

 rowly linear, 5-8 mm. long, thin, flaccid, flexuous, distantly 

 denticulate. Fronds several or numerous, fasciculate, erect, 

 8-20 cm. long ; stipes 2-6 cm. long, castaneous, with a few re- 

 duced capillary scales ; blades oblong or lance-oblong, 6-14 

 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad, pinnate, with a large terminal seg- 

 ment ; rachis similar to the stipe; pinnae 3-8 pairs, mostly 

 simple, linear, distant, all but the upper^ ones stalked; basal 

 pinnae long-stalked, commonly 3-cleft or 3-divided, often 

 deciduous ; margins strongly but not widely recurved, the 

 border thin, irregularly repand-crenulate ; sporangia borne in 

 a thick submarginal band, partially concealed ; leaf tissue light 

 green, glabrous, subchartaceous. 



Crevices of limestone cliffs. Transition Zone; British Columbia and 

 Washington, south to Utah and New Mexico. Type locality: Klickitat 

 County, Washington. 



4. Pellaea andromedaefolia (Kaulf.) Fee. 

 Coft"ee-fern. Fig. 61. 



Pteris andromedaefolia Kaulf. Enum. Fil. 188. 1824. 



Pellaea andromedaefolia Fee, Gen. Fil. 129. 1852. 



Pellaea rafaelensis Moxley, Am. Fern Journ. 5: 107. 1915. 



Rhizome very slender, wide-creeping; scales imbricate- 

 secund, 1.5-3.5 mm. long, narrow, tapering to a hair point. 

 Fronds distichous, 5-10 mm. apart, 15-75 cm. long; stipes 

 6-40 cm. long, flesh-colored, glaucous ; blades deltoid to 

 ovate, long-acuminate, 10^0 cm. long, 5-20 cm. broad, 2-4- 

 pinnate (usually 3-pinnate), the rachises glabrous or 

 glandular-pubescent ; pinnae subopposite to alternate, the 

 large lower ones often inequilateral, elongate-deltoid to 

 deltoid-ovate; pinnules distant, stalked, the larger ones 

 mostly pinnate; segments distant, oval or elliptical, 3-17 

 mm. long, short-stalked, mostly retuse, the sterile ones flat, 

 the fertile widely revolute, corrugate at the tips of the 

 spreading veins ; sporangia partially concealed ; leaf tissue 

 rigidly herbaceous, subglaucous, dull green to reddish purple 

 above, pale or yellowish green beneath. 



Dry, stony situations, chiefly in the Upper Sonoran Zone; middle 

 northern California (Mendocino and Tehama Counties) south to 

 Uower California; also in southwestern Oregon (Roseburg). Type 

 locality: California. 



