Pleopeltis polypodioides (Weatherby) E. G. Andrews & Windham

Resurrection fern, Gray's polypody

Etymology Polypodioides means like a polypod
Description Rhizome: creeping, branching, slender, to 2 mm diam., scales lanceolate, base and margins light brown, with dark central stripe, clathrate toward center.
Frond: 25 cm high by 5 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 3:2.
Stipe: jointed at base, straw-colored, grooved, densely scaly when young, falling soon; scales often overlapping, margins mostly entire, vascular bundles: 3.
Blade: pinnatifid, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, usually widest near middle, occasionally at or near base, leathery, rachis sparsely scaly below, glabrous above; conspicuous peltate, gray scales on the lamina below.
Pinnae: 8 to 14 pair, linear, entire, blunt at the tip, about 3 mm wide by 25 mm; margins entire; veins mostly free with occasional netting.
Sori: round, discrete, sunken, protruding on the upper surface, midway between margin and midrib to nearly marginal; on all but the lowest pinnae of fertile fronds, indusium: absent, sporangia: yellow to brown at maturity.
Culture Habitat: epiphitic in the southern part of the range, epipetric in the northern area. Distribution: southeastern United States. Hardy to -20°C, USDA Zone 6.
Distinctive Characteristics The gray, peltate scales on the lower surface are a diagnostic character (see photos).
Synonyms
Polypodium polypodioides (linnaeus) Watt
Pleopeltis polypodioides var. michauxiana (Weatherby) E. G. Andrews & Windham
Acrostichum polypodioides L.
Pleopeltis polypodioides (L.) Watt.
Polypodium polypodioides
Polypodium polypodioides. Habit, pinnae densely scaly on lower surface.  Illustration by Edgar Paulton, from How to Know the Ferns and Fern Allies, John T. Mickel, © 1979 Wm. C. Brown Co.
Polypodium polypodioides
Polypodium polypodioides. Epiphytic on live oak, Quercus virginiana, competing with lichen and moss.  Photo © Shirley Denton, from her web site, with permission.
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