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Cheilanthes leucopoda Link 1841

Whitefoot Fern, White-foot Lipfern

Carl Rothfels
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Containing group: notholaenids

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

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.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Cheilanthes leucopoda
Location USA, Texas
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By C.J.Rothfels
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Carl Rothfels
Scientific Name Cheilanthes leucopoda
Location USA, Texas
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By C.J.Rothfels
Life Cycle Stage sporophyte
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Carl Rothfels
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 Cheilanthes leucopoda Link 1841. Whitefoot Fern, White-foot Lipfern. 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. 2008. Cheilanthes leucopoda Link 1841. Whitefoot Fern, White-foot Lipfern. Version 23 December 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Cheilanthes_leucopoda/133578/2008.12.23 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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