Single Record

Participant Info

Species
Cystopteris reevesiana [Cystopteris fragilis subsp. tenuifolia]
Family
Cystopteridaceae
CommonName
Southwestern brittle fern
Presence
yes
Status
native
EarliestDate
1939
LatestDate
2010
Ecosystem
montane, subalpine, tundra
Geobotanical
SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos
Counties
Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache
Passes
WildlifePreserves
Other Localities
Comments
NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. In the Watershed, Southwestern brittle fern has been vouchered, occasionally, from all mountain regions, east and west. Unlike Cystopteris fragilis, C. reevesiana often grows ("sprawling") on forested and open slopes. Allred et al. (2020) find it common in the northern counties of New Mexico and suggest that since the species was separated out of C. fragilis late (1981), a number of older vouchers determined as "Cystopteris fragilis" may be C. reevesiana—and the same would apply to the Watershed record. The distribution of the New World species C. reevesiana is fairly restricted, to Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, with some occurrences in the Rio Grande drainage of southwestern Texas.