Monographs Details:
Authority:

Mickel, John T. & Smith, Alan R. 2004. The pteridophytes of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 88: 1-1054.
Family:

Dryopteridaceae
Description:

Species Description - Rhizomes short- to long-creeping, 2–4 mm diam.; rhizome scales lanceolate, concolorous lustrous brown, to 5 mm long, entire or with a few weak, short hairs, sometimes deciduous, leaving naked rhizomes; fronds approximate to slightly spaced, to 60 cm long, but usually half that long, 1.5–4 cm wide; phyllopodia distinct; stipes 1/4–1/2 the frond length, naked or with minute, reduced, appressed scales; blades lanceolate to nearly elliptic, coriaceous, apices rounded to acuminate, bases narrowly cuneate; veins obscure, free, simple or once-forked, ca. 1 mm apart, at ca. 70º angle to costa; hydathodes absent; blade surfaces glabrous or with minute stellate trichomidia, especially on the abaxial surfaces; fertile fronds slightly longer than the sterile fronds, the stipes longer (1/2–3/4 the length) and the blades narrower (1–1.9 cm), scales absent.

Discussion:

Acrostichum guatemalense Klotzsch, Allg. Gartenzeitung 23: 66. 1855. Type. From cultivation in Potsdam, Germany, grown from spores of unknown locality in Guatemala (B?).

Acrostichum salvinii Baker ex Hemsl., Biol. Cent.-Amer., Bot. 3: 688. 1886. Type. Guatemala. Volca´n de Fuego, Godman & Salvin 54226 (K!).

Unverified, Doubtful, or Mistaken Reports. Tam (Lof, 1980, f. 61, drawing of E. sp. appears to be E. guatemalense, but no specimen cited, not verified). Under this name we have placed those essentially glabrous specimens that have slender, creeping rhizomes and short, lanceolate, lustrous, brown rhizome scales. There may in fact be more than one element here, as some specimens seem especially narrow with acuminate apices, some broader with bluish green blades and acuminate apices; however, most specimens have obtuse to acute apices.