Pteris pungens Willd.

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pteris pungens Willd.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome scales concolorous, golden brown; fronds to 1.4(-2) m long; stipe weakly aculeate, glabrous, scaly, stramineous to black; blade 3060 cm long, 30-50 cm wide, pentagonal-oblong, pinnate-pinnatifid with terminal pinna conform, pinnatifid, lowermost pinnae with basal basiscopic pinnules elongate and deeply pinnatifid; pinnae 20-35 cm long, 4-8 cm wide, axils aculeolate, abruptly caudate; segments linear-oblong, slightly oblique, straight or subfalcate, those at base of pinnae evenly reduced (sometimes obsolete on basiscopic side), margin serrate near apex, glabrous above, with sparse 0.1 mm long hairs below; veins free, 1-2 basal ones arising from costa; pinna awns 0.8-1 mm long; indusium 0.3-0.5 mm wide, entire; sporangia with paraphyses; spores reddish-brown.

  • Discussion

    Lectotype (chosen by Proctor, FI. L. Antill. 2: 144. 1977). Plumier, Traité foug. Amér., t. 14. 1705, illustrating a collection from Haiti, along La Grande Rivière, nr. Léogane. Pteris pungens closely resembles P. quadriau-rita in blade form but is distinguished by the concolorous rhizome scales, the caudate pinna apices and by some of the veins arising from the pinna costae. A specimen from Chiapas (Breedlove 22661, NY) has abortive spores and is intermediate between P. pungens and P. paucinervata. It has the general blade dissection, paraphyses, and narrow indusia of P. pungens, and the asymmetric sinuses and short caudate pinnae of P. paucinervata. Some veins stop before the margin, whereas others fuse with the margin.

  • Distribution

    Wet lowland forest; Juchitán; 250 m. Mexico (Oax, Chis); Bel to Pan; WI, Trin; Gui, Ec, Bol.

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