Notholaena nealleyi
Nealley's Cloakfern
Carl Rothfels
Introduction
This species is close to Notholaena schaffneri and is usually treated as a variety of that species (e.g., Mickel and Smith, 2004; Tryon, 1956). Windham (1993a), however, suggests that Notholaena nealleyi is most likely a sexual allotetraploid (a species that has one complete chromosome set from each of two different species), with N. schaffneri as one of its parents and the other parent unknown. The two taxa—N. nealleyi and N. schaffneri—are largely geographically isolated. The former is limited to southern Texas and the adjacent northern Mexican state of Coahuila, while the latter ranges across most of central Mexico. Notholaena nealleyi prefers to grow on calcareous rocks, usually limestone.
Characteristics
Notholaena nealleyi differs from most of the other lanceolate-leaved white-farinose core Notholaena species in its indument of shiny dark needlelike hairs (rather than, say, brown scales). From Notholaena schaffneri it differs in some characteristics of the rhizome scales, and in the number of free pinnule-pairs on the middle pinnae: 1 – 3 in N. nealleyi vs. 4 – 6 in N. schaffneri (Tryon, 1956; Windham, 1993a).
Other Names for Notholaena nealleyi
- Notholaena schaffneri var. nealleyi
- Vernacular Names: Nealley's Cloakfern, Texas Cloakfern
References
Giauque, M. F. A. 1949. Wax glands and prothallia. American Fern Journal 39:33-35.
Mickel, J. T., and A. R. Smith. 2004. The Pteridophytes of Mexico. The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York.
NatureServe. 2008. NatureServe Explorer, Arlington, Virginia. www.natureserve.org/explorer/
Rothfels, C. J., M. D. Windham, A. L. Grusz, G. J. Gastony, and K. M. Pryer. 2008. Toward a monophyletic Notholaena (Pteridaceae): Resolving patterns of evolutionary convergence in xeric-adapted ferns Taxon 57:712-724.
Tryon, R. M. 1956. A revision of the American species of Notholaena. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 179:1-106.
Windham, M. D. 1993a. Notholaena. Pages 143--149 in Flora of North America (Flora of North American Editorial Committee, ed.) Oxford University Press, New York.
Windham, M. D., and G. Yatskievych. 2003. Chromosome studies of cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) from the western United States and Mexico. American Journal of Botany 90:1788-1800.
Wollenweber, E. 1984. Exudate flavonoids of Mexican ferns as chemotaxonomic markers. Rev. Latinoamer. Quim. 15:3-11.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Notholaena nealleyi |
|---|---|
| Location | USA, Texas |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Identified By | Michael Windham |
| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
© 2008 Carl Rothfels
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About This Page
Carl Rothfels
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Carl Rothfels at
Page copyright © 2008 Carl Rothfels
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- First online 23 December 2008
- Content changed 23 December 2008
Citing this page:
Rothfels, Carl. 2008. Notholaena nealleyi . Nealley's Cloakfern. Version 23 December 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Notholaena_nealleyi/133595/2008.12.23 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
