Pellaea

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Pteridaceae

• Scientific Name

  Pellaea

• Description

  Genus Description - Lvs firm, evergreen, glabrous or sparsely hairy, 1–4 times pinnate, with free veins, the pinnae and often also the pinnules narrowed to a minutely or evidently petiolate base; ultimate segments folded downward along the midrib under water-stress, concealing the lower surface; petioles wiry, often breaking off well above the ground to leave a persistent base; sori borne on the vein-ends just within the margins of the lf, often confluent, the point of attachment covered by the reflexed margins, which form a continuous false indusium, but the mature sporangia often conspicuously exserted; small, ± xeromorphic ferns, many spp. (including ours) with short, branched rhizomes forming a multicipital caudex that is so densely beset with long, narrow, brown scales as to appear brown-woolly. 85, New World, S. Afr., and New Zealand.

• Common Names

  cliff-brake