FERN FAMILY 



31 



5. Pellaea compacta (Davenp.) Maxon. 

 Desert Cliff-brake. Fig. 62. 



Pellaea wrightiana compacta Davenp. Cat. Davenp. Herb. Suppl. 46. 1883. 

 Pellaea compacta Maxon, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 30: 183. 1917. 



Rhizome woody, stout, nodose ; scales tufted, dark or grayish 

 brown in mass, linear, long-attenuate, 5-7 mm. long, with a broad, 

 black, opaque stripe, the borders pale, thin, deJiticulate. Fronds 

 mostly fertile, numerous, fasciculate, 20-35 cm. long, the glossy, 

 dark "brown, flexuous stipe.s much longer than the blades, naked ; 

 blades narrowh' oblong, acuminate, 9-13 cm. long, 2.5^.5 cm. 

 broad, 2-pinnate ; pinnae ascending, the lower ones distant, the 

 others contiguous or crowded; pinnules of the larger pinnae 5-7 

 pairs, simple, mostly close, sessile or nearly so, the sterile ones 

 oval or oblong, the fertile narrower, broadly revolute. often con- 

 duplicate, fansversely wrinkled, niucronulate, the margins minutely 

 sinuate-dentate; sporangia nearly concealed within the revolute 

 border; leaf tissue rigidly spongiose-herbaceous, grayish green. 



Dry stony slopes, Canadian and Upper Transition Zones; San Bernardino, 

 San Jacinto, San Antonio, and Providence ^Mountains, southern California. 

 Type locality: San Bernardino Mountains. 



6. Pellaea brachyptera (Moore) Baker. 

 Sierra Cliff-brake. Fig. 63. 



Platvloma brachypterum Moore, Gardn. Chron. 1873: 141. 1873. 

 Pellaea brachvpicra Baker in Hook. & Baker, Syn. Fil. ed. 2, 477. 



1874. 



Rhizome woody, horizontal, thick, nodose; scales tufted, 

 bright brown in mass, acicular, 5-8 mm. long, rather lax, 

 with a narrow dark brown stripe, the borders thin, pale. 

 Fronds fasciculate, 15-40 cm. long; stipes stout, naked, 

 purplish brown, as long as the blades or longer ; blades 

 linear to narrowly linear-oblong, 6-19 cm. long, 1.5^ cm. 

 broad, 2-pinnate ; pinnae numerous, very oblique, the lower" 

 2 or 3 pairs sometimes distant, the others close or imbri- 

 cate, mostly broader than long, semicircular or broadly 

 rounded-deltoid, the rachis usually much shorter than the 

 subequal segments; segments 5-11, usually close, spreading, 

 simple (rarely 2 or 3-parted), narrowly linear, 6-17 mm. 

 long, sessile, straight or falcate, rigidly short-mucronate, 

 revolute to the middle; sporangia concealed; leaf tissue 

 rigidly spongiose-herbaceous, dull or grayish green, sub 

 glaucous. 



Dry rocky slopes, chiefly in the Transition Zone; Sierra Nevada 

 of northern California (Placer County) northward to southwestern 

 Oregon. Type, a cultivated plant from California. 



Pellaea mucronata (D. C. Eaton) D. C. Eaton. 

 Bird's-foot Clift'-brake. Fig. 64. 



138. 1856. 



Allosortis miicroiiatus D. C. Eaton, Am. Journ. Sci. II. 22: 

 Pellaea omithopus Hook Sp. Fil. 2: 143. pi. 116. A. 1858. 

 Pellaea mucronata D. C. Eaton in Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 233. 



1859. 



Rhizome w-oody, thick, nodose ; scales castaneous in mass, 

 closely tufted, acicular. 5-10 mm. long, with a narrow, dark 

 brown, opaque stripe, the borders pale, thin, denticulate. 

 Fronds mostly fertile, fasciculate, 15-50 cm. long; stipes 4-20 

 cm. long, stout, dark purplish-castaneous, rather dull ; blades 

 oblong to deltoid-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, abruptly long- 

 acuminate, 8-35 cm. long. 3-15 cm. broad, 2-3-pinnate ; pinnae 

 close or distant, linear to lance-linear; pinnules 6-15 pairs, the 

 larger ones normally 3-foliolate or ternately divided (rarely 

 simple), or sometimes fully pinnate, with 5-11 sessile segments; 

 ultimate pinnules and segments 2-6 mm. long, elliptical to 

 linear-oblong, rigidly apiculate, wrinkled, revolute to the mid- 

 dle ; sporangia mostly concealed; leaf tissue spongiose-cori- 

 aceous, grayish green, subglaucous. 



Sunny or sparsely shaded rocky slopes, Upper Sonoran Zone: nearly 

 throughout California, from near sea level to 1500 meters elevation. 

 Type locality: hills near San Francisco Bay, California. 



