Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Purple cliff-brake

PURPLE CLIFF-BRAKE

File Size: 81 KB

Pellaea atropurpurea (L. ) Link

Montgomery County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-18 inches

Family: Pteridaceae - Maidenhair Fern Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Purple-stemmed cliffbrake.

Culms:

Compact, ascending; rhizome scales tan to rust colored, linear-subulate, to .3 inch, tips entangled.

Leaves:

Somewhat of 2 forms, numerous, evergreen, firm; sterile leaves shorter and less divided than fertile leaves; petiole purplish to black, conspicuously hairy on upper surface with short, appressed hairs; blade lanceolate to narrowly deltoid in outline, 2 to 16 inches long, 1 to 8 inches wide, 1- or 2-pinnate; pinnae in 5-11 pairs, ultimate segments dark green above, paler below, lanceolate to linear-oblong or ovate, .4 to 3 inches long, .2 to .4 inch wide, leathery, base sometimes with 1-2 lobes, margins entire to crenulate, often weakly recurved and whitish, tips acute to obtuse, glabrous above or villous near midrib below; sori in continuous marginal band on underside of fertile segments, partially covered by incurved margin; spores tan.

Habitat:

Calcareous rock outcrops, cliffs, ledges, and rocky slopes.

Distribution:

East 2/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

The Mahuna in California took an infusion of the plant to flush the kidneys and as a means to prevent sunstroke. See also Pellaea glabella .

Purple cliff-brake