Entry for Notholaena californica D. C. Eaton [family ADIANTACEAE]
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 2,
Names
Notholaena californica D. C. Eaton [family ADIANTACEAE], Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 10: 27. 1883
Aleuritopteris cretacea (Liebmann) E. Fournier [family ADIANTACEAE]
Cheilanthes deserti Mickel [family ADIANTACEAE]
Chrysochosma californica (D. C. Eaton) Pichi-Sermolli [family ADIANTACEAE]
Discussion
Notholaena californica comprises two distinct chemotypes, recognizable by farina color, that are treated here as subspecies. These white and yellow forms are strikingly different in chemical composition of the farina (E. Wollenweber 1984), and they are rarely, if ever, found growing at the same locality. Gene flow between the chemotypes in the region of sympatry (southern California) is prevented because both are apogamous in this area. The recent discovery that plants of N . californica subsp. californica from Arizona are pentaploids (M. D. Windham, unpublished data) suggests that this species has a complex evolutionary history that cannot be resolved until sexually reproducing (64-spored) progenitors are found.