Notholaena nealleyi
Notholaena nealleyi Seaton ex J.M. Coult.
(for Greenleaf Cilley Nealley, 1846–1896, TX botanist and possibly the first botanist at Texas A&M Univ.)
Local names: Nealley’s cloak fern
Leaves 15 cm or less long; leaf blades lanceolate, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, 3–6 times longer than wide, the lower surface with obvious whitish farina and shiny, dark brown, needle-like hairs (the hairs along the rachises and costae), the upper surface with glandular pubescence, the basal pinnae } the same size as adjacent pair, without greatly enlarged proximal basiscopic pinnules, the ultimate leaf segments sessile to subsessile, the margins of the ultimate segments only slightly recurved. Cliffs, ledges, crevices, and talus slopes, usually on limestone; Val Verde [including e of the Pecos River in the Edwards Plateau] (Correll & Correll 12899, BRIT, TEX-LL), Brewster, (W.D. Pohl & J.L. Blassingame 2962, BRIT; Correll 31568, 31584, M. Butterwick & E. Lott 3707, 3708, all TEX-LL), Terrell (P. Zelazny 182, SRSC and Presidio (Coulter 1890—cited Chenate [Chinati] Mts. as location of original collection; Correll 1956) cos. in or adjacent to the Trans-Pecos and disjunct to Starr Co. (S.E. Wolf 800-s, BRIT, Correll 14890, TEX-LL; Correll 1956) in far s TX; in the U.S. known only from TX (all collections within ca. 30 km of the international border); also Mexico. Sporulating May–Nov. [Cheilanthes nealleyi (Seaton ex J.M. Coult.) Domin, Chrysochosma schaffneri var. nealleyi (Seaton ex J.M. Coult.) Pic. Serm., Notholaena schaffneri (E. Fourn.) Underw. ex Davenp. var. nealleyi (Seaton ex J.M. Coult.) Weath.] The shiny dark brown needlelike hairs on the lower surface of the leaves are definitive in distinguishing this species from other members of the genus in TX. Mickel and Smith (2004) included this species in the more widespread N. schaffneri (E. Fourn.) Underw. ex Davenp., noting that it “appears to be only a diminutive form of N. schaffneri.” However, we are following Windham (1993f), who recognized it as a distinct species and suggested that it may be an allotetraploid hybrid between N. schaffneri and an as yet unidentified species. This species is considered rare (Yarborough & Powell 2002). Because of its rareness and limited distribution in the state, we consider this species to be of conservation concern in TX.