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Family:

Dryopteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

by: R.C. Moran, J. Prado, and P.H. Labiak

Type: Jamaica. Cuna Cuna Gap, 18°00'N, 76°22'W, ca. 800 m, 7 Mar 1900, W. N. Clute 200a (holotype: NY; isotype: K).

Description: Leaves up to 1.5 m long; scales of the petiole bases 1.5-2.0 × 0.6-0.8 cm, linear-lanceolate, denticulate, light brown; laminae 0.8-1.2 m long, 3-pinnate-pinnatisect at base, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid medially; basal pinnae ca. 0.35 m long, inequilateral; pinnules short-stalked, 3-10 cm long; pinna rachises abaxially sparsely glandular, without hairs, and sparsely scaly, the glands ca. 0.1 mm long, globose, yellowish, sessile, the scales 2-4 mm long, linear-lanceolate, light brown, denticulate, non-bullate, rachises adaxially non-glandular, densely pubescent, the hairs 1.0-1.3 mm long, 2-5-celled, the scales like those of the abaxial surface; costules on the abaxial surface glandular, sparsely pubescent and scaly, the hairs 0.5-1 mm long, 3-5-celled, acicular, erect to spreading, the scales ca. 0.5 mm wide, filiform, the adaxial surface sparsely pubescent, the hairs 0.5-1.0 mm long, 5-7-celled, spreading; laminar tissue between veins abaxially glandular-puberulent, the glands ca. 0. 1 mm long, stalked, usually with a yellowish terminal cell, this often capitate, the hairs ca. 0.1 mm long, acicular, spreading, adaxially glabrous; veins visible on both surfaces, abaxially glandular, sparsely pubescent, non-scaly, the hairs 0.5-1.0 mm long, 2- or 3-celled, the scales ca. 0.3 mm long, uniseriate, appressed, reddish, adaxially non-glandular, sparsely pubescent, the hairs ca. 1 mm long, 4- or 5-celled; laminar margins ciliate and glandular, the hairs 0.5-1 mm long, 2- or 3-celled, spreading, the glands ca. 0.1 mm long, spreading; indusia absent.

Distribution and ecology: Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico; wet forests, 200-1700 m.

Comments: Megalastrum gilbertii is restricted to the Greater Antilles. Its most distinctive character is stalked capitate-glandular hairs between the veins abaxially and along the laminar margin. These hairs vary in density, but in most specimens they are abundant and conspicuous. The apical cell of the gland is often slightly swollen and yellowish. Oddly, these conspicuous glandular hairs were not mentioned in the original description. Megalastrum martinicense is similar in laminar cutting (2-pinnate-pinnatisect medially) and type of hairs and scales along the costae and costules abaxially. It is also glandular, but the glands are sparse, inconspicuous, sessile or nearly so, and very rarely present on the laminar tissue between the veins abaxially. It further differs by shorter hairs on the costules abaxially (0.3-0.5 mm long vs. 0.1-0.2 mm long).