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2 Sori confluent into a marginal band towards the leaf apex; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
2 Sori discrete, round, elliptical or oblong. |
3 Leaf blade scaly on the lower surface with peltate, bicolored scales; stems (rhizomes) long-creeping, ca. 1 mm in diameter, the leaves scattered; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
3 Leaf blade scaleless on the lower surface; [subfamily Campuloneuroideae] |
4 Stems (rhizomes) short-creeping, 2-10 mm in diameter, the leaves clustered; main lateral veins either readily apparent (and then parallel to one another or obscure |
4 Stems (rhizomes) long-creeping, 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter, the leaves spaced along the rhizome; main lateral veins obscure, anastamosing |
1 Leaves either pinnatifid to 1- pinnate, or palmately and dichotomously lobed. |
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5 Leaves pinnatifid or pinnate (the lobes arrayed along an axis); foliage indument absent or of simple hairs or scales. |
6 Leaves 1- pinnate; [subfamily Serpocauloideae] |
6 Leaves simple, 1- pinnatifid. |
7 Plants dwarf, the leaf blades < 5 cm long; [occurring only in habitats where the air is constantly humid and the substrate saturated, as in grottoes behind waterfalls]; [subfamily Grammitidoideae] |
7 Plants larger, the leaf blades 7-90 cm long; [occurring in moist to dry habitats]. |
8 Leaf blade densely scaly on the lower surface with peltate, bicolored scales; rhizome 1-2 mm in diameter; leaf segment margins entire; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
8 Leaf blade scaleless on the lower surface; rhizome 3-15 (-30) mm in diameter; leaf segment margins denticulate ( Polypodium) or entire ( Pecluma, Phlebodium, Phymatosorus). |
9 Larger leaves with > 25 pairs of segments, each 1.5-5 (-8) mm wide; [of ne. FL southward]; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
9 Larger leaves with < 25 pairs of segments, each (3-) 5-40 mm wide; [collectively widespread in our area. |
Show caption*© Alina Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alina Martin 10 Venation free or with a row of areoles between the pinnae midveins and margins; rhizome 3-6 mm in diameter; leaf blade < 9 cm wide; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Phlebodium aureum, near Cumberland Wharf, Cumberland Island, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Camden County, Georgia 3 by Alan Cressler 10 Venation highly reticulate, with 3-4 rows of areoles between the pinnae midveins and margins; rhizome 3-30 mm in diameter; leaf blade 10-50 cm wide. |
11 Sori borne in distinct depressions in the blade surface; rhizome 3-6 mm in diameter; sori in (1-) 2-3 rows on each side of the costa; [subfamily Microsoroideae] |
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Phlebodium aureum, near Cumberland Wharf, Cumberland Island, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Camden County, Georgia 3 by Alan Cressler 11 Sori borne on the planar blade surface or slightly sunken; rhizome 8-30 mm in diameter; sori in 1-2 row on each side of the costa; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
Show caption*© Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Thomas Mesaglio 12 Plant with 2 distinct frond types, sessile nest fronds with shallow lobes ("oaklike") which turn a light coppery brown, and long- petiolate foliage fronds which are green and pinnatifid with deep sinuses; [subfamily Crypsinoideae] |
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Phlebodium aureum, Matheson Hammock, Miami-Dade County, Florida 1 by Alan Cressler 12 Plant lacking nest fronds, only bearing long- petiolate foliage fronds with deep sinuses; [subfamily Polypodioideae] |
1 Stem obviously jointed; leaves scale-like, borne in a whorl at each of the distant joints; spores borne in a terminal strobilus with peltate scales |
1 Stem (or rhizome) not jointed; leaves scale-like or larger, but if scale-like not borne in whorls at distant joints; spores borne variously, but if in a terminal strobilus the scales not peltate. |
2 Leaves linear, grass-like, 1-60 cm long, 20× or more as long as wide. |
3 Leaves solitary (though often the internodes very short from a thin, creeping rhizome); sporangia borne in a spherical (ca. 3 mm in diameter) sporocarp on a separate branch from the rhizome |
3 Leaves numerous from a corm or short-creeping rhizome; sporangia either borne in the expanded leaf bases ( Isoetes in ISOETACEAE) or in 2 rows at the tip of the linear fertile leaves ( Schizaea in SCHIZAEACEAE), or in a sub- marginal groove on either side of the midrib ( Vittaria in PTERIDACEAE). |
4 Leaves straight and stiff, arching, or flaccid, from a 2-3- lobed corm; sporangia borne in the expanded, hyaline leaf bases |
4 Leaves either straight and stiff or notably spiral-curly, from a short-creeping rhizome; sporangia borne in 2 rows either at the expanded pectinate tip of the fertile leaves or along much of the length of the linear leaves. |
5 Leaves 10-60 cm long, straight, stiff; plants epiphytic or rarely epipetric, the leaves pendent |
5 Leaves 1-12 cm long, spiral-curly; plants terrestrial in peaty substrate, the leaves erect |
2 Leaves various ( scale-like, awl-like, moss-like, or flat), but not linear and grass-like, mostly 1-10 (-20)× as long as wide. |
6 Leaves inconspicuous, reduced to a few nerveless scales (< 1.5 mm long), the internodes much longer than the leaves; sporangia yellowish, 3- locular, 1-2 mm in diameter; stems upright, repeatedly branched dichotomously |
6 Leaves either larger or, if scale-like, with 1 or more nerves and longer than the internodes (the leaves thus overlapping); sporangia yellowish to brownish, 1- locular, < 1 mm in diameter; stems either subterranean or surficial rhizomes or erect or ascending (and sometimes dichotomously branched in whole or in part in Huperzia in HUPERZIACEAE, and Diphasiastrum and Dendrolycopodium in LYCOPODIACEAE). |
7 Plant with leaves very numerous and overlapping along the creeping, ascending, erect, or pendant stems, the leaves scale-like or awl-like, 0.5-2 (-3) mm wide, typically acute, acuminate, or hair-tipped; sporangia either in terminal strobili ( axillary to specialized, smaller leaves) or axillary to normal leaves; [Lycophytes]. |
8 Sporangia borne in flattened or quadrangular strobili sessile at the tips of leafy branches; spores and sporangia each of two sizes, the megasporangia larger and borne basally in the strobili |
8 Sporangia borne either in the axils of normal foliage leaves, or in strobili sessile at the tips of leafy branches or stalked on specialized branches with fewer and smaller leaves; spores and sporangia each of one size. |
9 Leafy stems erect or pendant, simple or dichotomously branched, the ultimate branches vertically oriented (upwards or downwards); sporophylls like the sterile leaves or only slightly reduced, in annual bands along the stem; vegetative reproduction by leafy gemmae near the stem apex ( Huperzia) or lacking gemmae ( Phlegmariurus) |
9 Leafy stems prostrate or erect, if erect then generally branched, the ultimate branches spreading (horizontal) or ascending; sporophylls differing from sterile leaves, either broader and shorter, or more spreading, aggregated into terminal cones; lacking vegetative reproduction by gemmae. |
7 Plant with leaves not as above (see below for details); [Pteridophytes]. |
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11 Leaves divided into separate sterile and fertile segments, the sterile leaf blade 30-90 cm long, ovate to lanceolate, entire-margined, obtuse, the longer fertile portion with 2 rows of sporangia somewhat imbedded in it |
11 Leaves with fertile portions in patches near the tips of the lobes |
10 Leaves unlobed (or if lobed, pinnately so). |
12 Plant with 1 (-several) leaves, divided into separate sterile and fertile segments, the sterile leaf blade 0.3-90 cm long, ovate to lanceolate, entire-margined, unlobed, obtuse, the longer fertile portion with 2 rows of sporangia somewhat imbedded in it |
12 Plant with many leaves, generally 5 or more, not divided into separate sterile and fertile segments, the leaves either (a) small, 0.3-1.6 cm long, obovate, scattered along a very thin creeping rhizome, or (b) larger, (2-) 8-30 cm long, cordate at base, the tip long- attenuate (often proliferous, bearing a plantlet at the tip). |
13 Leaf blades (2-) 8-30 cm long, cordate at the base, the tip long- attenuate, often proliferous (bearing a plantlet at the tip); sporangia grouped into indusiate sori on the undersurface; leaf texture moderately thick; rhizome erect or ascending, 1.0-1.5 mm in diameter, the leaves clustered from its tip |
13 Leaf blades 0.3-15 cm long, cuneate at the base, acute to rounded or obtuse at the tip, not proliferous; sporangia solitary in a marginal pocket on the leaf; leaf texture very thin; rhizome creeping on the surface of rock or bark, either 0.1-0.3 or 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter, the leaves scattered along it |
14 Leaf blades 0.3-1.6 cm long; sporangia solitary in a marginal pocket on the leaves; leaf texture very thin; rhizome 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter |
14 Leaf blades 2-15 cm long; sporangia borne in round sori on the lower surface of the leaves; leaf texture herbaceous to subcoriaceous; rhizome 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter |