Pellaea

• Authority

  Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

• Family

  Pteridaceae

• Scientific Name

  Pellaea

• Description

  Genus Description - Terrestrial; rhizome short- to long-creeping; rhizome scales linear, usually toothed, often bicolor-ous; fronds medium-sized, pinnate to tripinnate, naked or with only a few scattered hairs; sori marginal or rarely elongate along the veins in one species, the leaf margin recurved to protect the sporangia.

• Discussion

  Lectotype (first chosen by Christensen, Index filic. xxxix. 1906): Pellaea atropurpurea (Linnaeus) Link [=Pteris atropurpurea Linnaeus]. (See Pichi Sermolli, Webbia 9: 428. 1953.) Pellaea is a genus of 80 species of temperate and subtropical dry, rocky regions. There is a major problem with the generic circumscription, and there has been confusion in the past, with many things being put into Pellaea that belong elsewhere. Pellaea allosuroides (Mettenius) Hieronymus is a Cheilanthes, P. rigida (Swartz) Hooker is a Cheiloplecton, P. intramarginalis (Kaulfuss ex Link) J. Smith is a Mildella. Pellaea skinneri Hooker, P. lozanii Maxon and P. see-mannii Hooker have usually been placed here (in Pellaea), but these species are probably more closely related to Cheilanthes. It is difficult to circumscribe Pellaea precisely. It is allied to Cheilanthes but generally has pale frond axes, or if dark, then with a glabrous blade. References: Tryon, A. 1957. A revision of the fern genus Pellaea section Pellaea. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 44: 125-193; Tryon, A. 1972. Spores, chromosomes, and relations of the fern Pellaea atropurpurea. Rhodora 74: 220-241.