Utah Bladderfern

Description:

Cystopteris utahensis Windham & Haufler. A Utah rare plant species, and at least moderately globally rare. Disjunct occurrence at this location in northern-central Utah by at least 175+ miles (type locality is in southern Grand County in southeastern Utah; known also from Zion National Park in southwestern, Utah at a even greater distance away from here). Primary distribution is in southern Utah (Washington, Kane, Grand) and more so in northern Arizona (mainly Coconino and Apache Cos.), with other disjunct locations in Colorado, western Texas and New Mexico. This particular plant was identified during a field trip by the primary author of the taxon, i.e. by Dr. Michael Windham, formerly curator at the Garrett Herbarium at the University of Utah.July 25, 2009, American Fork Canyon, Utah County, Utah, approx. 5,850 ft. elev.Note: Dr. Stanley Welsh does not recognize C. utahensis and includes it within also tetraploid C. fragilis. The morphological differences are subtle and difficult; combined however with the genetic work by Windham et al, C. utahensis is seemingly worthy of recognition.