Cryptogramma

Cryptogramma is a genus of ferns known commonly as rockbrakes or parsley ferns. They are one of the three genera in the Cryptogrammoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae.^[1] Cryptogramma ferns can be found in temperate regions on several continents worldwide. These ferns have two kinds of leaves which often look so different that at first glance they appear to belong to different plants. The fertile leaves have long, narrow, bumpy segments with undersides covered thickly in sporangia. The edges of the segments may curl back to cover the sporangia, forming a false indusium. The sterile leaves have thinner, wider segments which may be rounded and resemble the leaves of parsley. These ferns grow in rocky areas, often in crevices and cracks.

Cryptogramma
Cryptogramma crispa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Family:	Pteridaceae
Subfamily:	Cryptogrammoideae
Genus:	Cryptogramma R.Br.
Type species
Cryptogramma acrostichoides R.Br.
Species
See text
Synonyms
Phorolobus Desvaux 1827

Distribution

In North America, species within this genus are distributed over western and northern United States, Northwestern Mexico, and Canada.

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of Cryptogramma[2][3]

Cryptogramma C. stelleri (S.G.Gmel.) Prantl (fragile rockbrake, Steller's rockbrake, slender rockbrake) C. fumariifolia (Phil. ex Baker) Christ C. brunoniana Wallich ex Hooker & Greville C. acrostichoides Brown (American rockbrake) C. sitchensis (Ruprecht) Moore (Sitka rockbrake) C. cascadensis Alverson (Cascade rockbrake) C. gorovoii Vaganov & Shmakov C. bithynica (Jessen, L.Lehm. & Bujnoch) C. crispa (von Linné) Brown ex Hooker (parsley fern)