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Additional Resources:

Family:

Dryopteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

Primary Citation:

Index Filic. 304. 1905

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

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

Type: Brazil. W. Burchell 5155 (holotype: K-n.v.; isotypes B, P)

Description: Terrestrial or rarely epiphytic. Rhizome 2.5-7 mm wide, short- to long-creeping, scaly, black, often resinous; scales 1-3 mm long, lanceolate, dark brown, twisting and spreading, entire, the apex acute. Sterile leaves (18-) 25-53 cm long, 1-5 mm apart; phyllopodia present, 1.5-4 cm long; petioles 1/3-2/5(-1/2) the length of the sterile laminae, stramineous to tan or light brown; scales reduced to resinous dots or sometimes with a few scattered scales,1 mm long, lanceolate, light to dark brown; laminae 15-30 x 1-4 cm, narrowly elliptic, chartaceous, the base evenly or abruptly cuneate, ending well above the phylopodia, the apex acute to acuminate; veins conspicuous, 1 mm apart, at a angle of 75° with respect to the costa, the apices free; hydathodes absent; lamina scales reduced to resinous dots, these often on both surfaces but more pronounced on the abaxial side; marginal scales caducous (most easily seen on young leaves), 0.2-0.3 mm long, lanceolate, subentire or entire. Fertile leaves longer than the sterile; petioles 2/3 the length of the fertile leaf, tan to black; laminae 0.5-1 cm wide, linear, glabrous, the base narrowly cuneate, the apex acuminate.

Distribution: Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay; elevation 950-2900 m .

Comments: Elaphoglossum burchellii differs from E. ciliatum by having thicker and shorter-creeping rhizomes that have prominent scales at least around the apex, shorter phyllopodia, and a terrestrial habit, often among rocks. E. ciliatum typically has long-creeping rhizomes, rhizomes scales that are highly reduced most of them to black dots, and thus apparently absent, and epiphytic habit. Both species have laminae decurrent for only a short distance on the petioles, never decurrent all the way to the base as in E. nigrescens. The petioles typically constitute about 1/3-1/2 the leaf length. The scales on the lamina margin (often difficult to see because they are deciduous) are whitish and entire or nearly so and 0.1-0.3 mm long. This scale characteristic is useful in distinguishing the species from E. nigrescens, which has dissected scales, 0.5-1 mm long. The other species in the group with scaly rhizomes is E. huacsaro, but the scales of E. burchellii tend to be dark brown and twisting and spreading, whereas the scales of E. huacsaro are black, rigid and flat, and tend to be more appressed. Elaphoglossum burchellii varies in the shape and size of the laminae. Specimens from southern Brazil and Paraguay have usually long-decurrent lamina bases and smaller leaves, whereas those from Ecuador to Bolivia have typically more abruptly narrowed, short-decurrent lamina bases and larger leaves. Several specimens from Mato Grosso, Brazil, are very small (e.g., Macedo 3071, US) but otherwise appear typical. We have not seen the type at P of E. tenerum (Fée ex Kuhn) Hieron. from Ecuador, but the original description says it has a scaly rhizome and an acuminate apex. The only plant in the ciliatum-group in Ecuador that fits this description is E. burchellii. Accordingly, E. tenerum is placed here in synonymy. Rosenstock (1907) described Elaphoglossum burchellii var. major as twice the size typical for the species, and var. crenulato-dentatum as being larger than usual but with a crenate margin. Both of these characteristics are variable within the species, even in specimens from regions outside Brazil, thus the two varieties are placed here in synonymy.