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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] |
............ ............ ....15 Ultimate leaf segments never cordate, approximate to one another |
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]. |
............ ......10 Leaves palmately lobed. |
............ ........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 |