Monographs Details:
Authority:
Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.
Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.
Family:
Dryopteridaceae
Dryopteridaceae
Description:
Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, 5-8 mm thick (excluding scales), densely clothed toward apex with bright brown, lustrous, narrowly lance-attenuate scales 3-6 mm long, flexuous toward the delicate hair-pointed apex, the margins distantly denticulate- ciliate. Sterile fronds numerous, close, ascending or spreading, 15-35(-65) cm long; stipes slender, half as long as the blades or less, bearing a few minute, dark, stellate scales; phyllopodia dark brown, up to 1 cm long; blades linear or very narrowly elliptic, 10-25(-45) cm long, 1-2.5(-3) cm broad, attenuate at both ends but not decurrent; veins mostly 1-forked, with slightly enlarged tips not quite reaching the margins (obscured by the margins usually being narrowly revolute); tissue papery-herbaceous, semi-translucent, minutely and deciduously scaly on both sides, the scales of the upper side and margins whitish, roundish, and fimbriate-ciliate, those of the abaxial side darker, remote, and stellate, most if not all scales falling after the frond reaches maturity, old fronds appearing naked. Fertile fronds few, seasonal, often equalling the sterile ones, long-stipitate; blades narrowly linear, 12-20 cm long, 0.4-0.7 cm broad.
Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Occurs only in the Sierra de Luquillo; recorded from Rio Grande. Habitat. On mossy tree-trunks in wet forest at middle elevations (300-570 m), locally frequent. Closely related to Elaphoglossum petiolatum of Jamaica and Hispaniola, from which it diflfers in the blades not being glandular-punctate.
Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, 5-8 mm thick (excluding scales), densely clothed toward apex with bright brown, lustrous, narrowly lance-attenuate scales 3-6 mm long, flexuous toward the delicate hair-pointed apex, the margins distantly denticulate- ciliate. Sterile fronds numerous, close, ascending or spreading, 15-35(-65) cm long; stipes slender, half as long as the blades or less, bearing a few minute, dark, stellate scales; phyllopodia dark brown, up to 1 cm long; blades linear or very narrowly elliptic, 10-25(-45) cm long, 1-2.5(-3) cm broad, attenuate at both ends but not decurrent; veins mostly 1-forked, with slightly enlarged tips not quite reaching the margins (obscured by the margins usually being narrowly revolute); tissue papery-herbaceous, semi-translucent, minutely and deciduously scaly on both sides, the scales of the upper side and margins whitish, roundish, and fimbriate-ciliate, those of the abaxial side darker, remote, and stellate, most if not all scales falling after the frond reaches maturity, old fronds appearing naked. Fertile fronds few, seasonal, often equalling the sterile ones, long-stipitate; blades narrowly linear, 12-20 cm long, 0.4-0.7 cm broad.
Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Occurs only in the Sierra de Luquillo; recorded from Rio Grande. Habitat. On mossy tree-trunks in wet forest at middle elevations (300-570 m), locally frequent. Closely related to Elaphoglossum petiolatum of Jamaica and Hispaniola, from which it diflfers in the blades not being glandular-punctate.
Discussion:
Basionym. Elaphoglossum dussii Underwood & Maxon ex Maxon, Sci. Surv. Porto Rico & Virgin Is. 6: 398. 1926.
Type. Duss 4688, from Martinique (NY).
Syn. Acrostichum plumieri Desvaux, Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris 6:209. 1827, not Elaphoglossum plumieri T. Moore, 1857. (Type from Martinique, not seen.)
Acrostichum viscosum of Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W.L 676. 1864, in part, not Swartz, 1806.
Elaphoglossum petiolatum of Domin, Pter. Dominica 104. 1929, in part, not Acrostichum petiolatum Swartz, 1788.