About Pellaea glabella Mett.
This fern species, Pellaea glabella Mett., has sessile or nearly sessile pinnae. Sori form on the underside of pinna edges, and are covered by a false indusium created by the downward-curled pinna margins. It can be told apart from Pellaea atropurpurea by its smooth stipe and rachis (the main leaf stalk and stem), which are not hairy. Pellaea glabella has a wide distribution across the United States and most of Canada, absent only from the northernmost regions of Canada and Alaska. It is an epipetric species, meaning it grows on rock, and most often grows on well-weathered limestone, usually in rock cracks that hold little to no soil. It can also grow on sandstone and basalt, typically in locations where calcium is concentrated locally. It prefers more exposed growing sites than Pellaea atropurpurea.
