Pellaea bridgesii
Encyclopedia
Pellaea bridgesii is a species of fern
known by the common name Bridges' cliffbrake. It is native to an area of the western United States from northern California
to Idaho
, where it grows in rocky granitic
cliffs and slopes.
Pellaea bridgesii grows from a branching brown rhizome
. Each leaf is up to 30 or 35 centimeters long. It is composed of a straight brown rachis
lined with widely spaced leathery, blue-green leaflets which are round to oval and sometimes folded over. The edges of the leaflets are not rolled under and do not cover the sporangia
on the undersides.
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
known by the common name Bridges' cliffbrake. It is native to an area of the western United States from northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, where it grows in rocky granitic
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
cliffs and slopes.
Pellaea bridgesii grows from a branching brown rhizome
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
. Each leaf is up to 30 or 35 centimeters long. It is composed of a straight brown rachis
Rachis
Rachis is a biological term for a main axis or "shaft".-In zoology:In vertebrates a rachis can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the rachis usually form the supporting axis of the body and is then called the spine or vertebral column...
lined with widely spaced leathery, blue-green leaflets which are round to oval and sometimes folded over. The edges of the leaflets are not rolled under and do not cover the sporangia
Sporangium
A sporangium is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle...
on the undersides.