Plant Name
Scientific Name: Pellaea truncata
Synonym: Pellaea longimucronata
Common Names: Spiny Cliffbrake, Spiny Cliff Brake
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb, Fern
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This fern grows in rocky areas, usually in the shade or crevice of a rock.
Flower Color: Non-flowering
Height: To 15 inches (38 cm) tall
Description: The fronds are triangular in shape and bipinnately compound with varying shades of bluish green, narrowly oval, stiff, leathery leaflets on thin, wiry, dark brown petioles. The sterile fronds are shorter and less divided than the fertile fronds.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Division: Pteridophyta – Ferns
Class: Filicopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Pteridaceae – Maidenhair Fern family
Genus: Pellaea Link – cliffbrake
Species: Pellaea truncata Goodding – spiny cliffbrake
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