Monographs Details:
Authority:

Taylor, W. Carl. 1976. Vascular flora of Jonca Creek, Ste Genevieve County, Missouri. Castanea. 41: 93-118.
Family:

Dryopteridaceae
Description:

Latin Diagnosis - Ab E. unduaviensi Rosenst. statura minore, foliis 2-11 cm longis (non 12-60 cm), rhizomatibus 0.7-1 mm crassis (non 1.5-3.5 mm), phyllopodiis 3-5 mm longis (non 12-25 mm), foliis lanceolatis (non lineari-lanceolatis), squamis albidis peltatis ovatis in superficie laminari superna praesentibus differt.

Species Description - Plants epiphytic and terrestrial; rhizomes creeping, 0.7-1 mm in diameter, densely scaly, the scales lanceolate, entire or minutely, irregularly denticulate, orange-brown to blackish brown, 4-5 x 0.8-1.2 mm, the cell lumina translucent; phyllopodia 3-5 mm; leaves 10-20 mm apart, to 2-11 x 0.35-1.3 cm; petioles 1/2-3/5 the sterile leaf length, stramineous to dark orange-brown, with sparse scales resembling those of the rhizome but smaller, 0.3-0.5 mm; blades lanceolate, coriaceous, apically acute, basally decurrent, margins cartilagineous; veins obscure, free, ca. 1 mm apart, set at ca. 70º to costae, hydathodes lacking; blades abaxially with scattered scales, especially along the costae, the scales broadly lanceolate to hastate, entire or irregularly divided, dark brown to black, 0.2-1.5 x 0.1-1 mm; adaxially with moderately dense, peltate, ovate, erose to irregularly ciliate, whitish, appressed scales 0.1-0.5 x 0.1-0.4 mm; fertile leaves shorter than to ca. 2 times as long and wide as the sterile ones, similar in texture, apically somewhat more obtuse; intersporangial scales lacking.

Discussion:

(Fig. 4 A-F)

This species is related to E. unduaviense Rosenst., with which it shares the branching, long-creeping rhizomes with dense, spreading, brown to blackish scales, and the coriaceous blades with blackish, often hastate scales along the lower costae. It differs, however, in its smaller size (leaves 2-11 cm vs. 12-60 cm long; rhizomes 0.7-1 mm vs. 1.5- 3.5 mm thick; phyllopodia 3-5 mm vs. 12- 25 mm long), lanceolate (vs. linear-lanceolate) leaves, and presence of whitish-peltate, ovate scales on the upper blade surfaces (vs. upper blade surface glabrous or with minute blackish scales). It is named for Madidi National Park.