Entry for Astrolepis cochisensis (Goodding) D. M. Benham & Windham [family ]
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 2,
Names
Astrolepis cochisensis (Goodding) D. M. Benham & Windham [family ], Amer. Fern J., 82: 57. 1992
Notholaena cochisensis Goodding [family ADIANTACEAE], Muhlenbergia, 8: 93. 1912
Cheilanthes cochisensis (Goodding) Mickel [family ADIANTACEAE]
Cheilanthes sinuata (Lagasca ex Swartz) Domin var. cochisensis (Goodding) Munz [family ADIANTACEAE]
Notholaena sinuata (Lagasca ex Swartz) Kaulfuss var. cochisensis (Goodding) Weatherby [family ADIANTACEAE]
Discussion
Astrolepis cochisensis is reported to be toxic to sheep (F. P. Mathews 1945). Three cytotypes that occupy different ranges and/or habitats have been identified and are treated here as subspecies. These include a sexual diploid (subsp. chihuahuensis ) found on calcareous substrates in the Chihuahuan Desert; an apogamous triploid (subsp. cochisensis ), which inhabits primarily calcareous substrates in the Sonoran, Mojavean, and western Chihuahuan deserts; and an apogamous tetraploid (subsp. arizonica ), which occupies primarily noncalcareous substrates in southern Arizona. Isozyme analyses suggest that subsp. cochisensis is an autotriploid derivative of the diploid subsp. chihuahuensis (D. M. Benham 1989). Both the isozymes and substrate preferences of subsp. arizonica indicate, however, that it is not a simple autotetraploid and that other taxa remain to be discovered within the Astrolepis cochisensis complex.