Ovate maiden fern

Christella ovata (R. P. St. John) A. Löve & D. Löve; Dryopteris ovata (R. P. St. John) Broun

Stems usually long-creeping, 3--6 mm diam. Leaves monomorphic, evergreen, (0.5--)1--4 cm apart, (30--)55--135(--165) cm. Petiole straw-colored, 15--80 cm × 2--6 mm, at base with tan to brownish, linear-lanceolate, hairy scales. Blade about equaling petiole length, broadest at base, gradually to somewhat abruptly tapered to pinnatifid apex. Pinnae (5--)10--25 × 0.8--2.2 cm, incised 4/5 of width; segments oblique, somewhat curved, basal pair from middle pinnae often elongate parallel to rachis; proximal pair of veins from adjacent segments reaching margin at or just above sinus. Indument abaxially of hairs mostly 0.2--0.5 mm on costae, veins, and blade tissue, also sometimes of a few tan scales on costae and rachises; blades adaxially glabrous except along rachises and costae. Sori round, supramedial to inframarginal; indusia tan, hairy, hairs mostly 0.2--0.4 mm; sporangia glabrous. 2 n = 72.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America.

Lower Taxa

• Thelypteris ovata var. lindheimeri (C. Christensen) A. R. Smith
• Thelypteris ovata var. ovata R. P. St. John