Myriopteris parryi, formerly known as Cheilanthes parryi,[1] is a species of lip fern known by the common name Parry's lip fern.
Myriopteris parryi is a small tufted fern growing from a short creeping rhizome with medium brown scales, most with a darker thread-like mid-stripe. The leaf is usually 6-15 cm long (rarely up to 25 cm) and 1-3 cm wide. The leaf blades are oblong-lanceolate, twice pinnate, and densely wooly. The stipe (leaf stalk) is no more than 1 mm wide and has hairs that range in length, are bent, and are variably appressed to the stipe. Leaf segments are small, nearly round, and flat, with tangled hairs about 4 mm long densely on both surfaces. The adaxial (upper) leaf hairs are silver to white and the abaxial (lower) leaf hairs are tan to brown or golden. The pale hairs on top of the leaflets are often thick enough to make the plant look quite woolly from above. On the underside of the leaf the dark colored sporangia may be buried beneath the coating of hairs.[2] Like many Myriopteris ferns, when conditions are dry the fronds may curl up with their abaxial surface exposed.[3][4]
This fern is native to the Southwestern United States, California, and Baja California, where it grows in rocky crevices in the mountains and deserts.[2]
Based on plastid DNA sequence analysis, Myriopteris parryi is part of the lanosa clade in the Myriopteris genus, with Myriopteris rawsonii its closest analyzed relative.[5]
Myriopteris parryi, formerly known as Cheilanthes parryi, is a species of lip fern known by the common name Parry's lip fern.
