| Author | (Decaisne) Holttum | |
| Distribution | First collected in the state in 2020, by Mark Basinger, at Ev-Henwood Preserve in Brunswick County.
Ranges from extreme southeastern NC to southern FL and west to eastern TX. As with several other ferns, including the quite similar Pelazoneuron kunthii, the species can be adventive, and northern populations are thus of uncertain nativity, including the one from NC; it is treated by Weakley (2021) as Provenance Uncertain. | |
| Abundance | Very rare, with just a single collection. The taxon is not listed by NatureServe; the editors suggest a State Rank of SE? and a W4 status, as it is uncertain if native to NC or not. | |
| Habitat | "Moist ditch in hardwood-pine forest." Elsewhere in range, over limestone or marl derived material, such as in hammocks, around limesinks, and also on mortar and masonry. | |
| Phenology | | |
| Identification | This species is very similar to Pelazoneuron kunthii and almost certainly has been confused with it, despite currently in different genera. See that species account for overall appearance, though Christella hispidula has the lowest two pairs of pinnae distinctly shorter than the third pair from the bottom and thus the blade has some taper at the bottom, instead of a more even straight-edged look (narrow triangle) in Pelazoneuron, which has its lowest two pairs of pinnae nearly as long as the pair above them. Also, Christella has the "basal veins from adjacent lobes of the pinna always meeting", as opposed to Pelazoneuron's "basal veins from adjacent lobes of the pinna not meeting at all, or reaching the sinus at the same point". | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Typically listed as Thelypteris hispidula, but recently moved into Christella.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Rough-hairy Maidenfern | |
| State Rank | [SE?] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | [W4] | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
