Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Smooth cliff brake

SMOOTH CLIFF BRAKE

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Pellaea glabella Mett. ex Kuhn

Chase County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-14 inches

Family: Pteridaceae - Maidenhair Fern Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September,October

Culms:

Ascending to lax, usually branched, stout; scales reddish-brown, linear-subulate, to .24 inch long, thin.

Leaves:

Erect, numerous; petioles reddish brown to dark brown, mostly glabrous, shiny; blades 1-2 times compound, linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate in outline; pinnae bluish-green, leathery, pinnate or bipinnate, in up to 10 pairs, at acute angles to rachis; basal pinnae with 3-7 segments, sessile or short petiolate, upper pinnae simple, sessile, entire; pinnules narrowly lanceolate to oblong lanceolate, .1 to 1 inch long, .08 to .3 inch wide, mostly glabrous, often with 1-2 lobes at base, margins recurved, apex obtuse, veins usually obscure; sori in continuous marginal band, covered by recurved margins; sporangia with 32 or 64 tan spores.

Habitat:

Calcareous outcrops, ledges, and crevices

Distribution:

Principally east 1/2 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Pellaea, Greek "dark", perhaps alluding to the bluish-gray leaves. Pellaea atropurpurea is usually larger and more pubescent and has fertile pinnules that are narrower than the sterile pinnules.

Smooth cliff brake pinnea