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Cleveland's lip fern facts for kids

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Cleveland's lip fern
Cheilanthes clevelandii 3.jpg
Conservation status

Vulnerable (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Genus:
Myriopteris
Species:
clevelandii
Synonyms
  • Allosorus myriophyllus var. clevelandii (D.C.Eaton) Farw.
  • Cheilanthes clevelandii D.C.Eaton
  • Hemionitis clevelandii (D.C.Eaton) Maarten J. M. Christenhusz

Myriopteris clevelandii, formerly known as Cheilanthes clevelandii, is a species of lip fern known by the common name Cleveland's lip fern.

Its specific epithet clevelandii honors 19th-century San Diego-based plant collector and lawyer Daniel Cleveland.

Distribution

The fern is native to southern California, including several of the northern Channel Islands, and to northern Baja California, Mexico.

It grows in chaparral habitats, in rocky crevices in the hills and low-elevation mountains of the Peninsular Ranges and on the islands.

Description

This fern has leaves which are 3- to 4-pinnate, such that each leaflet is subdivided twice or three times into layers of overlapping rounded segments. The leaves have a bumpy, cobbled look. The underside bears scales, which are long outgrowths of the epidermis, as well as a coating of long hairs.

The sporangia may be hidden beneath the scales and hairs and tucked under the curved lip of the leaf margin.

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