AND A OF THE FERNS FERN OF SYNOPSIS ALLIES WITH NEBRASKA, MAPS OF THEIR DISTRIBUTION Steven Rolfsmeier Robert Kaul B. B. Herbarium Charles 8os.se) Charles E ft s ,_v/> ,n i KACT ABS'I Name m elilcratuic h ih in u nj p u 1/ fin li / I i i i 1 nam. spn id 25 species in 18 genera ol terns. hire ies aie here veil lied for [he tirsi lime ha' re I I o woii and ion leeeni col trot ions: Mutt cur, id s/ iio'iie/Ve) vai neies\ v. on. <e (d/'/i leef.' eie.yl nien e o 1 I mum. VlmmieNa ejected are published report sot' hy. <>|'ndmiii mini d.mi.Mi. I.quisetum <litonilc,li. it m\ m. ion ol re) or n iv< >een it'll nore th in n Inn uln . i 1 . i < I I i . i | RESUMI-N b on ispntidoitta.nato d K k - h isadosen estudiosde !>. t I , i i 1 i ' I 1 I I i herbanos, evaluacion cntica de literatura C'.omo nativas para este estado y la mdanopoda,SelagiriLlhi -up ,n is in. o< p, L i. d .< o ion \ 2 u -.pi kmI. hel i / . . , om dah reeicntes \hitn (mu'im, n n .on i>' n h l\ llaca ik. n \ i i ( * r . >i . , , i 1 1 \W oluspukdo Imhi. t) i Ju-i.i/ '.I. J tin ii lk . ul. kit i . n . 1 in i ,i i l! 1[ i n i i k mw um H)4I lulu in ironea hi n puhh da I. |m en la d. /.\ ojwdi annotim c i i lull v/ in lionn til in n '(< m J i i ii I ) f > i nfnmnn.i uunout x's/h >p/no ion to Irni.ii \j .1. /.» ( i < . INTRODUCTION & New While preparing our Century Flora Nebraska (Kaul, Sutherland, oj Rolfsmeier, in prep.), we reinterpreted and eonveted many dubious or errone- among ous reports of the states flora, which those the ferns and their allies ol were confused and especially contradictory. Nehaska ompk wa Ih cadi hhle repoi of vascular lora tin i i < f I Webber by HJ. (1890), but the definitive account of Nebraska's ferns list first Thomas was that of Fitzpatnck (1920), which was based upon holdings in J. lerbanum the (diaries Bessey (\rv) the niiversity Nebraska-Lincoln. E. ol oi I \ The only floristic manuals solely devoted to the states flora (Petersen 1923; Winter 1936) were also based upon thai herbarium's collection, which greatly expanded under from Bessey s direction the 1880s until his death in 1915. Re- gional and more extensive books hat include Nebraska were based upon that i & many and other collections and outside Nebraska Britton Brown in (1896, but not Gleason Rydberg bernald 1913, (19 (1932), (19 Petrik-Ott ,2)): 50), (1979), GPPA FNA-Flora Bellinger (1985), -Great Plains Flora Association (1977, 1986), North America Committee and With of Editorial (E)0 various journal papers. 5), each succeeding publication, old distributional errors were perpetuated and new ones were introduced. The only count)' by county mapsol he states ems and fern allies were all t I those of Atlas of the Flora oj the Great PlainsiG PI 'A 1977), to which we contrib- and The uted, of Pternlophvtes Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North of Dakota The maps (Petrik-Ott 1979). state-outline of Flora North America of (FNA more mapping There 1993) are generalized. are errors in all those publi- we cations that seek to correct in this paper, and our extensive field and her- many barium work has added distributional records. A continuing source errors the E.M. u.ssongcol ion suppos- ol is lent at nhs, I I edly from Franklin County according The in the 1890s, to the labels. collection many includes ferns and angiosperms that are far out range for Nebraska. o\ Osmu mo For example hu Nebraska ethana a al be. n ut to t >i 1 I century based upon those specimens, but yet unknown anywhere in the is it state, and Franklin and nearby counties kick suitable habitat. The handwriting on and we the labels is not ussongs, reject the records as re present ng Nebraska 1 1 i plants. The massive cattle aiichiug and agricultural development the past E ;>0 ol i years has greatly reduced the state's natural vegetation, especially that of the prairies, but suitable habitats remain and most species can be found today, if only in remote or wide cattcrcd Most ptcridophyn inNebiasI in 1\ ai n many the edge of their range and, as such, have always been scarce, and a few have not been seen for decades. Relatively pristine are the Sandhills, 23,000 square miles of prairie vegetated, uncultivated dunes and sandplains, the high and and producing thousands ponds, marshes, the water-table of lakes, fens; much valley of the Niobrara River, bluffs and sheltered tributaries lined for its Some of length with forests of ponderosa pine and hardwoods. species in its Niobrara Valley forests and Sandhills fens are apparently relicts from cooler, now such disjunct Ophioglossum wetter, early post-Pleistocene rimes, as the many and pusillum,Dryoptci cristata D.airthusuuui Athyiiumfilix /cm in a, t m angiospermsandaium.il tKaulctal Kaul 199 The pon Roll 1.988; r >). <S i and derosa pine forests of the Pine Ridge, Wild, Hills, tobrara River valley at r- much some have native as do of the oak hickory forests of the Mis- flora, still With and and ranching agrarian settlement souri River valley tributaries. its came suppression ol prairie fire leading to major ex pan .ion ol deciduous for- ests in the eastern, wettest third of the state, but then pteridophyte flora has not correspondingly expanded and yet confined to the region of the original is forests there. AND METHODS MATERIALS We have collected most species in the field during our combined 86 years of field work from 1964 through 2001. In addition, we examined all specimens at Herbarium these herbaria in Nebraska: Charles Bessey (neb) at the University E. Omaha of Nebraska-Lincoln; University of Nebraska at (oma); University of Wayne Chadron and Cedar Nebraska at Kearney; (cscn), Peru, state colleges; We Doane and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Point Biological Station; College; examined Nebraska-collected specimens the University of Kansas also at all Kansas m\ei Fort lays Slate University, University of (kanu), State tu.i ,ii) l ) I South Dakota South Dakota State University and University of (sou), (sdc), Wyoming and we saw souk Nebraska specimens at the Missouri Botani- (rm), New cal Garden (mo) and the York Botanical Garden (ny). (FNA Our nomenclature follows Flora North America 1993), with syn- of onyms as used in our cited refei sices that specifically attributed the plants to () m map mad w diamond Nebaska by text, boi h |u u d irh hi ick are ' < , i here verified for in time native to Nebraska n were discovered in the tin. a < I some 1990s and 2000. Year of collection given lor the rarer species, late first is which have not been found again. Counties and some physiographic features of named and mapped by county Figure are in Figure all species are in 2. 1, ACCEPTED SPECIES LYCOPODIOPHYTA Division ISOETACEAE & Duneu melanopoda Gay Durieu ex -Collected from the Rainwater Isoetes Most long Basins several times, 1880s-1941, but not again until 2000. habitat Mapped since drained and plowed for agriculture. for the entire eastern half of ^4^4^1 : A/ pAj^ ^7C -„L1 ^_ t«L -. /' L. H * s. < r^» v sJ ;c „,"t JLSF"" - -[ J 1W ; < iv I. 1 pd M firl) n/ith'i nti< major rivi and some physiographic areas identified. M: Missouri, N: Niofar.it i, 1 , I i and P: Platte rivers.Pff: Pine Ridge,and WH: Wildcat Hills, both forested with ponderosa p\ne.Dottedline(S). Sandhills- prairie-vegetated dunes and sandplains, with thousands of ponds, lakes, marshes, and fens; dashed line(Rw):Mnm- now ter Basins-level plains once having hundreds of shallow ponds, these mostly drained and plowed for agriculture. SELAGINELLACEAE Selaginellarupestris(L.) Spring— Locally abundant in parts of the Niobrara and Little Blue river drai age eat tcred elsewhere EQUISETOPHYTA Division EQUISETACEAE Equisetum arvense ..--Common slate wide, except absent from the southwest. 1 Equisetum Clute Equisetum intermedium baton) Rydb- xferrisii (A. A. [ many Rydberg U932)|.— Occasional in the eastern ball oi the Mate; reports in CITA U'C7) were based upon depattperate specimens hyemale. oi E. Equisetum fluviatile \=Equisetum limosum L.-Bessey (1892)].-Known L. only by collections from the eastern Sandhills in L892, 1909, and 2000, and from Mapped one site near the Missouri River, 1941-1952, 1987, 2001. for the entire FNA-Hauke northern half of the by state (1993). Equisetum hyemale (Engelm.K L.ssp. affine aldeiwVr Ro\ laylorl Equi- 1 . me Engelmann setumaff Rydberg U932); hcjni.se/um hyemale L.-Bessey (1892), & Brown GPLA Bntton Equisetum hvemale 11890, 1913), (1977); L. var. affine (Engelm.) A.A. Eaton-GPFA Equisetum mbustum Braun- Webber (1986); A. Rydberg (1932)].-Common most (1890), Fitzpatrick (1920), over of the state, except the southwest. kansanum )M. Equisetum laevigatum Braun ^liquisctum Schailn.- A. Rydberg (1932)].-Common statewide. POLYPODIOPHYTA Division ASPLEN1ACEAE & Aspleniumplatyneuron(L)Btitnn Stern Poggenb.-First collected in 1986, County where abun- by Locklear in Jefferson (Rolfsmeier et 1988), locally al. J. and photographed Washington County dant; a single plant discovered in in whether 1988 (Garabrandt 1988), the photograph at oma. remains to be seen It (Wagner this plant will increase its range in Nebraska as has elsewhere d-r it Johnson 1981). umfilix- angustum foemina Bernh -Botanical Survey Nebrasl (1893) \thyrium (L.) oi i -Known Willd.) C. Presl-Rydberg (1932)] only as independent 1893 collections ( M b mdiilcn and In Batt f m< nl nid P \ Rvch ei n\ d a* - u dill n ( ] ioumm sites in the Niobrara River valley, and perhaps yet present in pristi ne >l . mm mam rum Long Pine Canyon. The are disjunct! the ranges of var.cvi low sites FNA-Kato Lawson our west and angustum (Willd.) G. to our east. (1993) to var. attributed only var ingustum to Nebrasl but th pecint ns Irorn in Id \ i with rounded and long indusia, are van rydosorum. In 1979, their sori ciliate Brooks annotated those specimens as cydosorum (Rupr.) C. Christens., R.E. ssp. GPFA key but in (1986) he did not attribute the species to Nebraska; the to vari- md u'l 1979) noi pet tu th in< oi in lid pi il\ ifi if'it t i ( r I' . < i i I i i man Adams was rom an County specimen she cited but did noi a garden; sev- I specimens eral other herbaria are of cultivated plants. in Bernh.-GPFA 1986).-First collected in 1972 Cystopteris bulbifera (1977, (L.) (Anderson Richardson County extreme southeastern corner of 1974), in in the unknown the and abundant that but elsewhere in the state. state, still at site, FNA-Haufler Not Nebraska by attributed to et al. (1993). Gihb.-Petersen Cystopteris fragilis (L.) Bernh. [=Filixfragilis (L.) (1923), Rydberg (1932)].-Common the northern and eastern halves of the state. in — ommon (Weath the eastern one-fifth Cystopteris protrusa in Bl isdell. ] < southeastward. of the state, especially Cystopteris tenuis (MichxJ d-dystoptcrisfragilis J Bernh., in part- Des\'. I Moran GPFA 1986)] -Locally abundant in the eastern one-fifth of the state. (1977, (1983) and FNA-Haufler et (1993) mapped for one station in the extreme al. it Dryopteris carthusiana bcv t\8W):DryoptcnsspinubscilO.E Mull.) Kuntze-Fitzpatrick (1920), Petersen Wan (1923), Rydberg (1932); Dryoptcris spinubsa (O.H (NK6)|. Mil!!.) ,LL/\ ( common Collected infrequent between 18^2 and 2001: locally today at scat- ly tered sites in the paper-birch forests of the Niobrara River valley in Cherry County and oak-wooded between in ravines bluffs the Missouri River in ol Dakota and Thurston counties. J Gray— DryopteriscristataU A. Collected by Rydbcrgin 89} from shrub- 1 km Hooker mi/240 filled fens of County, in the Sandhills, disjunct 150 west of main many the range: not ioutuj .since then, but potentially persisting in the remaining (ens. Frroneously attributed also to adjacent Thomas County by GPFA and upon Petersen (1923) (1977), based incorrect interpretation of the lo- on cation as written the labels. Matteucciastruthiopteris(L)Tod. var.pensylvanica(Willd.)C.V. Morton. First collected from the wald in 2000, in native habitat in Thurston County, Commonly remote from known past or present habitations. cultivated but not to have naturalized in the stale, although seemingly capable doing o! so. L— Onoclea sensibilis Abundant today Sandhills marshes and the in in Flkhorn, Loup, and lower Little Blue river valleys, but rare and mostly extir- pated elsewhere. common Woodsia Torr— obtusa (Spreng.) Occasional to locally in rocky m woods eastern one-filth the fie ol state, i Woodsia DC. Windham oregana baton cathcartiana Robins.) ssp. (B.b. Occasional in the western two-thirds of the Mapped but the ex- state. for all FNA-Windham treme southeastern corner of the state by but absent (1993), much from a greater area (Fig. 2). MARSILEACEAE & m Marsilea vestita Hook. Grew Locally abundant, sometimes massively so. the Platte River valley and Rainwater Basins, scarce elsewhere. americana Braun and Pilularia A. -First collected from last in .1966, a large, shallow Sandhills lake Cherry Count}' (.McGregor in 1967). OPHIOGLOSSACEAE & Botrychium campestre W.H. Wagner Farrar -First collected in 1982, from a bur-oak and red-cedar forest on the floodplam of the Niobrara River, Brown & County (Freeman Churchill matncarufolium 1983, as A. Braun, but later 11 & formally described campestre Wagner Wagner and as in B. (1986)), still thriving there; two nearby populations discovered 2000. in Common Botrychium virginianum )S\v in eastei n and. nort hern counties, ( I less so westward. Mapped for the entire state by FN A-Wagncr and Wagner (1993), unknown but to us in the entire southwestern half, which lacks suitable habitat. -Known Ophioglossum engelmannii Prantl only by collections in f999 i'om Law nee ountv, the northern edge range. t oi its I var.pseudopodum vulgatumL. Ophioglossum pusillum [=Oph ioglossum Raf. GPFA abun- Farw.-Fernald Brooks (1986)].-Locally Blake) (1950), (1980), (S.F. dant on peat mounds in northwestern Sandhills fens, and on shallow peat near m uod DIJ ua but not again until springs in the Niobt lit olli in ,t \ ill' i- ^ t i 1982 and subsequently seven other The habitats are not especially threat- at sites. ened, and a few are preserved. PTERIDACEAE L— Common Adiantum pedatum in oak-hickory forests on blul s near the Mis- I known rom from and uid single collection River nearb) tributary souri i I Rock County Niobrara River valley. in tin Windham Kunze- [=Notholaena dealbata Argyrochosma dealbata (Pursh) & Webber (1890), Britton Brown (1913), Fitzpatrick (1920), Petersen (1923), GPFA and Rydberg Fernald (1977, 1986)] -First last collected in (1932), (1950), now The disturbed from Weeping Water Cass County. severely 1888, Valley, site, northernmost by quarrying limestone, for the species. of is T Nutt.-Webber (1890)]- Moore [=Cheilanthes lanuginosa Cheilanthes feei Uncommon mapped western counties, absent elsewhere; lor the entire state in FN Windham i>W). by A- Rabe &r FNA- Link-Mapped by atropurpurea the entire state Pellaea (L.) for Windham known where only from one western county, (1993), but to us it is coun- and from seven eastern abundant narrow, shady, cool canyons, locally in we Kuhn only specimen have ex glabella.-The Pellaea glabella Mett. ssp. was from Gag ount) 1998 dthough the plant earlier our seen collection is < mapped Nebraska by Gastony but without citation of specimens. (1988), It for FNA- mapped County by and Richardson was then attributed to the state for Windham upon map. perhaps based Gastony's (1993), THELYPTERIDACEAE Lawson) Fernald [=Aspidium pubescens Thelypteris palustris Schott var. (G. Gray- Sw.-Webber Dryopteris thelypteris A. (1890); (L.) thelypteris (L.) Schott- Fitzpatnck(1920) Petersen (1923) Rydberg (1932) Thelypteris palustris now and sometimes GPFA 1986)].-Common in Sandhills marshes fens, (1977, Elkhorn and Loup drainages massively and locally abundant in the river so, u and in Jefferson ount) rial ly extirpated elsewhere. ( < i EXCLUDED SPECIES LYCOPODIOPHYTA Division n 1873 through 2001. The records Rydb was reported troin Holt County by IVtnk Ott (N7'x and b>7<J) ,l'lv\ l l 'aldespino(1993),butweh m Wyoming and South Dakota. n'l'v EQUISETOPHYTA Division ,1 J,,JI UH'llfiOl'u, ..I II . . | , I , I | I mm specimen Sowbelly Canyon, l.quisetum praictise I'hrh. IVssey lUR"') reported a Si<ni> I m bm nlv. supposedly colleucd n n L ' kl >a. liaye not touiul such a specimen. \ l> t The depauperate specimens of Equisetum laevigatum. re d, POLYPODIOPHYTA Division .-Wagner (1^3;. Moran C>yC litu could et al. ,„ i Dakota Report Willd a Ix-ioi upon specimens of Botr\ i \-|xunn KhI.v.-I...«.n multifidum (S.G. Gmel.) Ri U(H„SS0,UISJ}.)M nth, supposedly from hi i|.i so identifie '" 11 |l> The speeimeii is , 1 ' '). , i ' 1ml '', !!'''„] ' ^"h.'lulp ,!i' by GI'KA (1977.1 id is rejected b\ i 1 i Wood ,,...«,,„, was .nttonandBrowi H., it ,,) •!<! V. : Petersen (1923), the latter 1 The Petrik-Ott :ement (1979). pla. of thi: u.untolnnn was "/»l'i-'S'«-t.lfll Vtll^llMIH L. first reported for Nebraska by Bale All reports be: : t ). who were by authors di dnotdistmji,.iish this spec iesl'rom O.pusil/ umRaf of which there ., on M >yy l I')/0). < :I M MippOsedK lllssoilj; .llld I I