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Family:

Dryopteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

Primary Citation:

Sci. Surv. Porto Rico & Virgin Islands 6: 398. 1926

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

by: A. Vasco, R.C. Moran, and G. Rouhan

Type: Martinique. Bois du Lorrain, 540-900 m, Sep 1901, A. Duss 4688 (holotype: NY)

Description: Epiphytic. Rhizome 5-8 mm wide, short creeping, scaly, brown; scales 3-6 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, reddish brown, with a few distant cilia, the apex attenuate, flexuous. Sterile leaves 20-65 cm long, 1-2 mm apart; phyllopodia present, 0.5-1 cm long; petioles 1/3-1/2 the length of the sterile lamina, stramineous to tan or light brown; scales reduced to resinous dots or 0.8-2 mm long, lanceolate, light brown, sometimes also with substellate scales; laminae 15-45 x 1.5-3 cm, narrowly elliptic, chartaceous to coriaceous, the base gradually tapered, ending well above the phylopodia, the apex attenuate to acuminate; veins conspicuous, 1 mm apart, at a angle of 75° with respect to the costa, the apices free; hydathodes absent; lamina scales on the abaxial surface of the laminae reduced to resinous dots, those on the adaxial surface and the margin less than 0.5 mm long, substellate, appressed or subappressed, thin, pale whitish, with irregular teeth; marginal scales caducous (most easily seen on young leaves), 0.2-0.3 mm long, entire or subentire. Fertile leaves ca. equaling the sterile; petioles 2/3 the length of the fertile leaf, tan to brown; laminae 0.4-1 cm wide, linear, adaxially scaly, the base narrowly cuneate, the apex acuminate.

Distribution: Puerto Rico, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada. According to Proctor (1977), the species also occurs on Haiti, Domican Republic, and Nevis.

Comments: Elaphoglossum dussii is distinguished from all other species belonging to the Elaphoglossum ciliatum group by its long (3-6 mm), reddish brown rhizome scales that often cover most or all of the phyllopodia. Also, the blades are scalier than those of other species in the E. ciliatum group (with the possible exception of some specimens of E. huacsaro and E. nigrescens with unusually persistent scales). The blade scales occur on both surfaces and are pale whitish, thin, substellated and subappressed. This species seems more similar to E. petiolatum (Sw.) Urb. (sect. Lepidoglossa), and it was considered as a variety of that species by Proctor (1977). Proctor (1977) listed this species in "South America", but his report probably refers to the various segregates of E. petiolatum. Althouh surprinsing from a morphological point of view, our molecular analyses that included several species from the E. petiolatum complex (Vasco et al, submmited) recovered only E. dussii as part of the "ciliatum-group". The sister relationship with the other endemic West Indies species E. gramineum and the presence of resinous laminar dots make the placement of E. dussii in the "ciliatum-group" plausible despite the apparent morphological disagreement.