Pseudopedate
Pseudopedate is a term used in botany to describe the leaf architecture of certain ferns in the genus Adiantum (maidenhair ferns).
Plants
Historically, certain of the maidenhair ferns, such as
Slosson and Wagner showed that, in fact, the central one of the apparent "pinnae" contains the rachis of the blade; the "pinnules" adorning it are the medial and terminal pinnae. The two basal pinnae not only form the "pinnae" flanking the first "pinna" (containing the rachis), but their basal basiscopic pinnules are enlarged into another set of apparent "pinnae". In a sufficiently large specimen, the basal basiscopic segments of these are also so enlarged into another set, and so forth. [1]
Within the genus, this architecture is shared by A. aleuticum, A. patens, A. pedatum, A. viridimontanum, and sometimes A. hispidulum.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Paris, Cathy A. (April 1991). "Adiantum viridimontanum, a new maidenhair fern in eastern North America". Rhodora. 93 (874): 105–121.