An Excerpt from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
| from the January 12, 2007 Newsletter issued from Sierra
Gorda Biosphere Reserve Headquarters in Jalpan, Querétaro, MÉXICO ANEMIA PHYLLITIDIS  On both sides of the reservoir several
miles of one-lane gravel roads have been cut into the mountainsides. Besides displaying
fine examples of the region's much folded and faulted limestone geology, the roadcuts
display a goodly number of plants adapted to rock faces, especially ferns. One particular
fern species is common but I've had a dickens of a time trying to identify it,
because there are no fieldguides here. It's shown at the right.If you're familiar
with the fern groups, particularly the North's "rattlesnake ferns," genus Botrychium,
this might look a little familiar to you. Rattlesnake ferns have much-dissected,
triangular leaves from which a single rattlesnake-tail-like, spore-producing "fertile
frond" arises from the fern stem. What jars the fern-expert's sense of propriety is
that our fern has two of those fertile fronds, not one. |
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