The genus Cheilanthes (lip ferns) has the best representation in Namaqualand with 11 taxa in the area. Some are fairly widespread, like C. multifida subsp. multifida, while most are confined to the region and perhaps also adjacent parts of the fynbos, Karoo or southern Namibia, like C. rawsonii and C. namaquensis. The few other ferns that occur in the region are widespread species like, Ophioglossum polyphyllum, Asplenium cordatum (= Ceterach cordatum) and Mohria caffrorum. Cheilanthes capensis occurs from southern Namibia, through the Northern and Western Cape, then sporadically through the Eastern Cape, with a slight disjunction to Lesotho, the southeastern Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. Cheilanthes deltoidea occurs from southern Namibia southwards through the Northern Cape to the Western Cape. Cheilanthes hastata is strictly a fern of the winter-rainfall region and has its centre of distribution in the Western Cape, but extends into the Northern Cape and extreme south of Namibia. Cheilanthes kunzei is endemic to the Northern Cape and southern Namibia. Cheilanthes multifida subsp. multifida occurs rather widespread from the Western and Northern Cape through the Eastern Cape, North West and Namibia, to Angola. Cheilanthes namaquensis is restricted to the dry, semi-desert areas in the winter-rainfall region of southern Namibia, and the Northern and Western Cape in South Africa.