English: Woolly Lip Fern
Family:
PteridaceaeRegion: North America, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, northern Mexico.
Habitat: in arid and semi-arid regions, thriving in rocky slopes, crevices, and limestone outcrops; prefers well-drained, rocky soils, partial to full sunlight.
Ecology: provides soil stabilization on rocky slopes and crevices.
Supports local biodiversity by offering habitat for small insects.
Use: ornamental, in rock gardens, due to its drought tolerance and unique woolly fronds; folk medicine.
BotanyFern: small to medium-sized; perennial; compact and spreading habit.
Roots: fibrous.
Rhizome: creeping, covered with dark, woolly scales.
Leaves: bipinnate to tripinnate; delicate, lacy appearance; 10 to 30 cm long; covered with dense, woolly hairs; silvery or grayish appearance; leaflets are narrow, deeply lobed, with curled edges.
Sori: on the undersides of fertile fronds, protected by the inrolled margins of the leaflets.