Myriopteris aurea

Myriopteris aurea
Two leaves of a fern, with an inset showing brownish hairs on the underside of one of them
Myriopteris aurea growing in Peru, showing pinnate-pinnatifid leaves and hairs on both surfaces

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Pteridaceae
Genus: Myriopteris
Species:
M. aurea
Binomial name
Myriopteris aurea
(Poir.) Grusz & Windham
Synonyms
  • Acrostichum bonariense Willd.
  • Cheilanthes bonariensis (Willd.) Proctor
  • Cheilanthes ferruginea Willd. ex Link
  • Hemionitis bonariensis (Willd.) Christenh.
  • Notholaena aurea (Poir.) Desv.
  • Notholaena bonariensis (Willd.) C.Chr.
  • Notholaena chiapensis Rovirosa
  • Notholaena ferruginea (Willd. ex Link) Hook., nom. illeg. hom.
  • Notholaena rufa C.Presl, nom. superfl.
  • Notholaena rufa var. major C.Presl
  • Notholaena rufa var. minor C.Presl
  • Pellaea ferruginea (Willd. ex Link) Nees
  • Pteris aurea Poir.

Myriopteris aurea, the golden lip fern or Bonaire lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern native to the Americas, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Unlike many members of its genus, its leaf is only modestly dissected into lobed leaflets (pinnae), which are hairy both above and below. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, until 2013 it was classified in the genus Cheilanthes as Cheilanthes bonariensis, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows on dry, rocky slopes, and ranges from Mexico, where it is common and widespread, and the southwestern United States south and east through Central and South America as far as Chile and Argentina.