Ferns and Lycophytes of
the Southern Rocky Mountain Region
Monique A. McHenry and Tom A. Ranker
This LUCID3 interactive key can be used to identify all
currently recognized ferns and lycophytes in the Southern Rocky Mountain Region
(SRMR), an area with high plant diversity rich in endemic species. This key
follows the nomenclature of Flora North America (FNA) using an adapted
checklist of ferns and lycophytes documented in the SRMR (Snow, 2004). To form
an interactive key to the 84 fern and lycophyte taxa in the SRMR, characters
that define the similarities and differences among species were entered into
Lucid software (version 2.1). We adapted a key to the families of vascular
plants of the SRMR (Brasher and Snow, 2003) to best identify deterministic characters
of SRMR ferns and lycophytes. This interactive key and corresponding taxon fact
sheets were informed by a literature review (FNA, 2003; Weber and Wittmann,
2001b and b; Spackman et al., 1999; Dorn, 1988; Lellinger, 1985; Mickel,1971;
Sporne, 1968; Harrington, 1954 and 1950; Harrington and Durrell, 1950; Parsons,
1911), observations of herbaria specimens (COLO, COCO, GREE) and personal
observations during twelve collection trips in Colorado. This information was
supplemented by a key to ColoradoÕs ferns and lycophytes, presented by Tom
Ranker at the Colorado Native Plant Society Workshop (2003). The
geographic location of specimens by county was obtained from CU
Museum Herbarium's Specimen Database of Colorado Vascular Plants, NMBCC
Gateway to New Mexico Biodiversity and Atlas of the
Vascular Plants of Wyoming. Character states for ferns and lycophytes in the SRMR and
descriptions for each character state were compiled (from the texts mentioned
above) and added to this key. Characters were then scored for each taxon.
Additional information entered into the key included dichotomous keys to
subspecies and varieties, images of each taxon, images of important or hard to
determine characters, elevation and geographic distributions of each taxon
based on geographic boundaries determined by political county boundaries (see
Maps 1.1 and 1.2).
TUTORIAL NOTE: This key was designed so that it would merge with
a key to the species of all vascular plants for the SRMR (when completed).
Therefore, to create a user friendly ÒflatÓ key there are no sub-keys
associated with the families and genera. To expedite the process of identifying
a species without a sub-key, characters unique for a certain family or genus
are denoted with the three letter acronym for the family or the genus name
preceding the given character. Additional note - family and genus characters
were entered based on information from the SRMR, thus, characters found
worldwide for a given family or genus but not present in the specimens found in
the SRMR were omitted.
PHOTO CREDITS: All images in this key were photographed by Tom
Ranker or Monique McHenry.
REFERENCES
Brasher, J. W. and N. Snow. 2003. ÒSouthern Rocky
Mountain Interactive Flora (SRMIF). Phase I: Key to Families.Ó
Greeley: University of Northern Colorado.
(http://asstudents.unco.edu/students/lucid/).
COLO (CU Boulder Herbarium). 2004 April 1 onwards. Specimen
Database of Colorado Vascular Plants.
(http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/Research/Botany/Databases/search.php) Boulder, CO.
Dorn, R.D. 1988. Vascular Plants of Wyoming.
Cheyenne, WY: Mountain West Publishing.
FNA (Flora of North America Editorial Committee).
1993. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol. 2. New York,
NY: Oxford Univ. Press.
Harrington, H.D. 1950. Colorado Fern and Fern
Allies. Fort Collins: Colorado Agricultural Research Foundation.
Harrington, H.D. 1954. Manual of the Plants of
Colorado. Denver, CO: Sage Books.
Harrington, H. D. and L.W. Durrell. 1950. Colorado
Ferns. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Agricultural Research Foundation.
INRAM. 2005a. The INRAM Biodiversity Division Web Site. The
Institute of Natural Resource Analysis and Management. Albuquerqe, NM.
Available http://biodiversity.inram.org. (Accessed: 1 May 2005).
INRAM. 2005b. The INRAM Gateway to New Mexico Biodiversity [web
application]. Version 1.0. The Institute of Natural Resource Analysis and
Management.
Albuquerque, NM. Available http://biodiversity.inram.org. (Accessed: 1 May 2005).
Lellinger, D. B. 1985. A Field Manual of the
Ferns & Fern-Allies of the United States & Canada. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press.
Mickel, J. T. 1979. How to know the Ferns and
Fern Allies. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C Brown Company Publishers.
Parsons, Frances Theodora. 1911. How to Know the Ferns.
New York: Charles ScribnerÕs & Sons.
Ranker, Tom. 2004. ÒColorado Ferns and LycophytesÓ.
Colorado Native Plant Society Workshop. Boulder CO, 14 April 2004.
Snow, N., J. W. Brasher. 2004. Provisional Checklist
of Vascular Plants for the Southern Rocky Mountain Interactive Flora (SRMIF).
(http://www.unco.edu/biology/SRMIF/SRMIFChecklistFeb04.pdf). University of Northern Colorado,
Greeley, CO.
Spackman, S., W. Jennings, J. Coles, C. Dawson, M. Minton, A. Kratz,
C. Spurrier. 1999 (on-line version). Colorado Rare Plant Field
Guide.
Prepared for the Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Forest
Service, and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Colorado Natural
Heritage Program. Fort Collins, CO. (http://www.cnhp.colostate.edu/rareplants/cover.html)
Sporne. K.R. 1968. The Morphology of Ferns.
London, UK: Hutchinson University Library Press.
Tryon, R.M. and A.F. Tryon. 1982. Ferns and
Allied Plants, with Special Reference to Tropical America. New York:
Springer-Verlag.
Weber, W. A. and R. C. Wittmann. 2001a. Colorado
Flora: Eastern Slope. Third Edition. Niwot, CO: Univ. Press of Colorado.
Weber, W. A. and R. C.
Wittmann. 2001b. Colorado Flora: Western Slope. Third
Edition. Niwot, CO: Univ. Press of Colorado.