Cryptogramma stelleri
in Engler,Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 3: 413. 1882.
Stems creeping, few branched, slender, 1–1.5 mm diam., succulent, brittle; scales colorless, sparse, transparent-reticulate, ovate, 0.4 × 0.3 mm; stems shriveling in 2d year following emergence of leaves. Leaves scattered along stems, ephemeral (dying by late summer), soon shed; sterile leaves erect, 3–15 cm; fertile leaves erect, 5–20 cm; petioles, costae, and costules glabrous. Petiole dark brown in proximal 1/2 or less, becoming greenish distally, ca. 1 mm wide when dry, only slightly furrowed, glabrous. Blade broadly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, all pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate, herbaceous to membranous, thin; hydathodes superficial, often poorly developed or absent. Segments of sterile leaves ovate-lanceolate to fan-shaped, distal 1/2–1/3 shallowly lobed; segments of fertile leaves horizontal to ascending, often only partially differentiated from sterile leaves, lanceolate to linear, 8–25 × 2–4 mm; margins reflexed, forming continuous false indusia. Sporangia often in discrete sori. 2n = 60.
Habitat: New growth produced in spring, dying by late summer. Sheltered calcareous cliff crevices and rock ledges, typically in coniferous forest or other boreal habitats
Elevation: 0–3000 m
Distribution
![V2 102-distribution-map.gif](/w/images/9/94/V2_102-distribution-map.gif)
Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Yukon, Alaska, Colo., Conn., Ill., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Oreg., Pa., Utah, Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo., Europe in ne former Soviet republics, Asia.
Discussion
Selected References
None.