Pellaea glabella Mettenius ex Kuhn ssp. glabella . Smooth Cliff-brake. Phen: May-Sep. Hab: Dry, exposed outcrops of calcareous rocks (limestone, dolostone), rarely on masonry walls (Wieboldt 1995). Dist: The diploid, sexually-reproducing P. glabella ssp. missouriensis (Gastony) Windham is (so far as is known) restricted to MO; the apogamously-reproducing autotetraploid derivative, ssp. glabella, is more widespread, ranging from VT, ONT, and MN, south to VA, TN, ne. AL (Barger et al. (2019), KY, AR, OK, and n. TX.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Taxonomy Comments: Two additional taxa (both western) have been variously treated as additional subspecies of P. glabella or as two subspecies of P. occidentalis (E.E. Nelson) Rydberg.
Synonymy: = Ar, FNA2, K1, K3, K4, NE, NY, TxFerns, Va; = Pellaea atropurpurea (L.) Link var. bushii Mack. – G; = Pellaea glabella Mett. ex Kuhn var. glabella – C, Mo1, Pa; < Hemionitis glabella (Mett. ex Kuhn) Christenh. – Christenhusz, Fay, & Byng (2018); < Pellaea glabella Mett. ex Kuhn – F, Il, Sf, Tn, Tx, W, WV; < Pellaea glabella Mett. ex Kuhn var. glabella – GrPl
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© Alan Cressler: Pellaea glabella, growing on Pennsylvanian age, Warren Point Sandstone, Foster Falls Small Wild Area, South Cumberland State Park, Marion County, Tennessee 2 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Erik Danielson 
© Alan M. Cressler | Original Image ⭷
© Erik Danielson 
© Alan Cressler: Pellaea glabella, and Heuchera parviflora, growing on Warren Point Sandstone (Pennsylvanian age), Denny Cove, South Cumberland State Park, Marion County, Tennessee 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷