Stegnogramma burksiorum is a narrow endemic restricted to sandstone rockhouse habitats along the Sipsey River in northern Alabama. All known plants are found in a few small populations along a 1/2 mile stretch of river. These unique habitats host a number of other “rockhouse” ferns typical of the Appalachian Mountains, including Vittaria appalachiana, Vandenboschia boschiana, and Crepidomanes intricatum.
Awesome images of Eddie Watkins and “his” beautiful Thelypteris burksiorum. Was he looking for the gametophytes?
Fernando,
Thanks! He might have been! There are a lot of Crepidomanes intricatum gametophytes there, and the sporophytes of T. burksiorum are small are grow in rock crevices, so he might have been looking for them, too. I can’t remember.