Flora of the Southeastern United States

Hymenophyllum tayloriae Farrar & Raine. Common name: Gorge Filmy Fern. Habitat: Spray cliffs near waterfalls, permanently moist ceilings of grottoes in escarpment gorges with high rainfall. Distribution: This species is endemic to the southern end of the Southern Appalachians (Transylvania, Jackson, and Macon counties, NC, Pickens and Oconee counties, SC, Rabun County, GA, Fentress, Scott, and Sevier counties, TN, and Lawrence, Franklin, and Lamar counties, AL).

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Other Comments: H. tayloriae was named (in honor of the first collector), following the demonstration that it represented a gametophyte distinct from the gametophytes of any (sporophytically) known species (Raine, Farrar, & Sheffield 1991), including H. tunbrigense, present in the close vicinity. Raine, Farrar, & Sheffield (1991) point out that "H. tayloriae is distinguished from the independent gametophytes of Vittaria appalachiana Farrar & Mickel by its 2-dimensional spathulate gemmae (those of V. appalachiana are uniseriate), rhizoid attachment only to marginal cells, yellow-green color, and glossy texture. Thalloid liverworts of similar size are generally more than one cell thick or have a distinct midrib, have notched apical meristems, and do not produce spathulate gemmae." An immature sporophyte, collected by Mary S. Taylor in 1936, has stalked stellate hairs on the margins and midrib of the leaf and was the only sporophytic collection of the species until the recent discovery of additional juvenile sporophytes in AL (FNA 1993b).

Synonymy ⓘ: = FNA2, K4, NS, POWO, Tn, Ebihara et al (2006); = branching ribbon-like wide, of the genus Hymenophyllum" — RAB; = Sphaerocionium species 1. Basionym: Hymenophyllum tayloriae Farrar & Raine 1991

Links to other floras: = Hymenophyllum tayloriae - FNA2

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Heliophily ⓘ: 1