Hairy halberd fern

Aspidium coriandrifolium Swartz, J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 36. 1801

Stems decumbent, compact. Petiole tan to reddish brown, often shorter than to rarely equaling blade, pubescent on both surfaces, scaly; scales narrowly deltate or lanceolate, 2--5 × 0.1--0.2 mm. Blade lanceolate to oblong, 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, 5--12 × 2.5--10 cm. Rachis and costae pubescent abaxially. Pinnae 1--8 pairs, margins crenate to pinnatifid, 1.2--5 cm, base rounded, often with proliferous buds in axils. Areoles lacking included veinlets. Indusia round-reniform, attached at sinus. 2 n = 80 (Jamaica).

Sinkholes, rock, ledges, crevices; 0 m; Fla.; West Indies in Cuba, Jamaica.

Tectaria coriandrifolia is known in North America only from southernmost Florida; it has not been seen there for several years and is perhaps extirpated. It hybridizes with Tectaria fimbriata to form T . × amesiana A. A. Eaton [ Aspidium trifoliatum (Linnaeus) Swartz var. amesianum (A. A. Eaton) Clute], which may be distinguished by its misshapen spores, fewer pinnae pairs, and dense row of hairs on the adaxial surface of the petioles. The hybrid is known only from Florida.