Cystopteris tennesseensis Shaver
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Detail
- Family
- Cystopteridaceae
- Botanical Name
- Cystopteris tennesseensis Shaver
- Common Name
- Tennessee Bladder Fern
- Synonym(s)
- Flora of Virginia Name/Status
- Cystopteris tennesseensis Shaver
- Comments
- A cryptic species. See: Biosystematic analysis of the Cystopteris tennesseensis complex, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 77:314-329 (1990). Its discovery in Virginia was described in Jeffersonia 13(4):30-34 (1982). The earliest collection of Tennessee bladder fern in Virginia, was that of A.B. Massey in 1939, but which went undetected until correctly identified by Robbin Moran in 1981. At the time of Moran's paper, however, another most interesting collection was not mentioned. C.E. Stevens had collected plants (CES #6553) from Staunton River 2 miles NE of Grit that were identified by Herb Wagner in January 1977. Although the correspondence does not express doubt about the identity, Wagner does suggest securing a better specimen a little later in the season. Stevens must have had some doubt, perhaps because the substrate was not limestone, because he did not map it in subsequent hard copy editions of the Atlas. He did, however, recollect the plant in 1994 (CES #12122), but the specimen remained hidden in his personal herbarium until after his death. It was discovered in 2016 and is a fine, fertile specimen of this species (specimen at VPI).
- Habitat
- Moist to dry limestone, dolostone, and calcareous, metasedimentary outcrops. Very rare in the Ridge and Valley province of sw. Virginia; recorded from Montgomery and Pulaski counties on deeply weathered limestone. Very rare in the Piedmont province, recorded from metamorphic rock outcrops in Pittsylvania County, an unusual substrate for the species.
- Native Status
- Native
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