Shoestring fern

Pteris lineata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1073. 1753

Plants epiphytic. Stems short-creeping, branched, densely scaly; scales brown, apex attenuate, filiform. Leaves 10--60 cm × 1--3 mm, petioles indistinct. Sporangia protected by soral paraphyses that lack dilated terminal cells. Spores monolete. Gametophytes much branched. Gemmae tapering at ends, end cells not swollen; body cells 4--16, rhizoid primordia on each end cell, often on 1--2 medial cells. 2 n = 120.

Epiphytic, most commonly on trunks of palms ( Sabal palmetto Loddiges), in moist woods and especially along streams; 0--100 m; Fla., Ga.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America.

Sporophytes, now extirpated, once occurred on rock cliffs at a single site in Lincoln County, east central Georgia. Vittaria lineata is now known outside of Florida only in Camden County, in southeastern Georgia. Gametophytes commonly form the dominant cover on moist logs and tree trunks, especially the bases of Sabal palmetto palms, within the range of the sporophyte. Such populations usually contain numerous small, sexually produced sporophytes.