Plants of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument - NPS Inventory ...

Pteridaceae
Ferns
36
Cheilanthes wootonii
beaded lipfern
General: Slender, widely creeping rhizomes
1–3 mm in diameter, densely scaly with loosely
imbricated, oblong–ovate to lance–oblong,
distantly denticulate, light reddish brown scales,
2–3 mm long. Leaves: Several fronds, scattered
7–35 cm long, noncircinate vernation, stipes
slender 5–20 cm long, petiole dark brown,
rounded adaxially; blade oblong–lanceolate,
3–4 pinnate at base, 2–5 cm wide; pinnate not
articulate, basal pair not conspicuously larger
than adjacent pair; scales firmly attached,
rounded to subcordate at base, ciliate. Sporangia: Few, false indusia
marginal, weakly differentiated, 0.05–0.25 mm wide; sori more or less
continuous around segment margins; sporangia containing 32 spores.
Ecology: Found on rocky slopes and along ledges from 3,000–9,500 ft (914–
2896 m); sporulating summer–fall. Notes: This species can be distinguished
by the leaf blades appearing glabrous adaxially, with costal scales that are only
ciliate in the proximal half, and the brown and loosely appressed stem scales.
Ethnobotany: Used as a life medicine and as a lotion for gunshot wounds.
Etymology: Cheilanthes is from Greek cheilos for lip and anthos for flower,
while wootonii is named for Elmer Otis Wooton (1865–1945), an American
botanist and former curator of the National Herbarium. Synonyms: None
©2004 Patrick Alexander