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1 Gametophytes only present; [subfamily Vittarioideae] |
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2 Leaves undissected and unlobed, linear, 10-60 cm long and 1-3 mm wide; [subfamily Vittarioideae] |
2 Leaves dissected, not linear, > 20 mm wide. |
3 Sori round or oblong, distinct and separate along the pinnule margins; leaves bright-green, glabrous, herbaceous, delicate, and flexible (darker green, thicker, and hairy in A. hispidulum); [subfamily Vittarioideae] |
3 Sori continuous along the pinnule margins (or across the blade in Acrostichum); leaves mostly dark-green or glaucous, often pubescent, coriaceous, tough, and stiff (except Ceratopteris). |
4 Plant aquatic or subaquatic, pale green, delicate; [subfamily Ceratopteridoideae] |
4 Plant epipetric or terrestrial (except Acrostichum), usually dark or bluish green and coriaceous. |
5 Fertile pinnae with entire lower surface covered by sporangia; leaves 1.5-5 m long; [of wetlands, n. FL southward]; [subfamily Ceratopteridoideae] |
5 Fertile pinnae with sori marginal; leaves < 0.5 m long; [of rocky sites, collectively widespread]. |
6 Leaves strongly dimorphic, the fertile leaves obviously longer than the sterile and with narrow elongate ultimate segments; [subfamily Cryptogrammoideae] |
6 Leaves essentially monomorphic. |
7 Petioles with alternating longitudinal grooves (2 or 3) and ridges on the upper surface; [subfamily Pteridoideae]. |
8 Lower surface of leaf blades with white or yellow farina; sporangia along the veins, not covered by the reflexed leaf margin; [of peninsular FL in our region] |
8 Lower surface of leaf blades lacking farina; sporangia submarginal, typically covered by the reflexed leaf margin; [widespread in our region] |
7 Petioles rounded, flattened, or with a single groove on the upper surface; [subfamily Cheilanthoideae]. |
9 Leaves 1- pinnate or 1- pinnate- pinnatifid; lower leaf blade surfaces densely covered with stellate and ciliate- fringed scales; petiole with 2 vascular bundles |
9 Leaves 1- pinnate- pinnatifid or more divided (to 5- pinnate); lower leaf blade surfaces glabrous to pubescent and/or farinose; petiole with 1 vascular bundle. |
10 Lower leaf surface with dense white farina. |
11 Leaf blade deltoid; white farina on lower blade surface not interspersed with shiny, dark-brown needle-like hairs; [of KY westwards] |
11 Leaf blade lanceolate; white farina on lower blade surface interspersed with shiny, dark-brown needle-like hairs; [of s. TX only in our region] |
10 Lower leaf surface not farinose, variously glabrous or hairy; [widespread in our region]. |
12 Leaf blade pentagonal in outline, divided into 3-5 segments which are each merely pinnatifid |
12 Leaf blade lanceolate or ovate in outline, 1-5- pinnate. |
13 Leaves 1-3- pinnate, the ultimate leaf-segments 8-100 mm long, glabrous or sparsely and inconspicuously hairy |
14 Petioles slightly grooved or flattened and ultimate segments thin in texture and not strongly rolled, and also lacking a mucro or cusp at apex |
14 Petioles either terete (not grooved/flattened), or petiole flattened, and then the ultimate segments also leathery and strongly rolled and with mucronate apex |
13 Leaves 2-5- pinnate, the ultimate leaf-segments 1-4 (-8) mm long, more-or-less densely hairy ( glabrous or glabrescent in Myriopteris alabamensis and M. microphylla). |
15 Ultimate leaf segments cordate at the base and well-separated from one another on prominent stalks [of ec. TX only in our region] |
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