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Newberry's lip fern facts for kids

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Newberry's lip fern
Cheilanthesnewberryi.jpg
Conservation status

Apparently Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Genus:
Myriopteris
Species:
newberryi
Synonyms
  • Cheilanthes newberryi (D.C.Eaton) Domin
  • Hemionitis newberryi (D.C.Eaton) Christenh.
  • Notholaena newberryi D.C.Eaton

The Myriopteris newberryi, also known as Newberry's lip fern, is a type of fern. It used to be called Cheilanthes newberryi. This plant is special because it's a "lip fern."

You can find Newberry's lip fern growing naturally in southern California and Baja California in Mexico. It likes to live in rocky areas where the ground is mostly dry. This includes places like the California chaparral and woodlands, which are dry shrublands.

What Does Newberry's Lip Fern Look Like?

Newberry's lip fern has leaves that can grow up to about 30 centimeters long. That's about the length of a standard ruler! These leaves are covered in soft, matted hairs that can be white, gray, or brownish.

Each leaf is made up of many smaller parts, like tiny branches. The very end parts of these branches are oval-shaped. They are mostly flat, but it can be hard to see their exact shape because of all the thick hairs covering them.

How Does It Reproduce?

If you look at the underside of the fern's leaves, you'll see small dots scattered around. These dots are called sori (SOH-rye). Inside each sorus are tiny cases called sporangia (spor-AN-jee-uh).

These sporangia hold the fern's spores, which are like tiny seeds. Each sporangium can contain either 64 or 32 spores. When these spores are ready, they are released to grow into new fern plants.

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