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Family:

Dryopteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

Primary Citation:

Mét. Ecol. Sist. 3 (Supl. 1): 45, Fig. 6A-C. 2008

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Isotype -- W. H. Camp

Description:

by: R.C. Moran, J. Prado

Type: Ecuador. Guayas/Cañar/Chimborazo/Bolívar: foothills of the W cordillera near the village of Bucay, [2°40'S, 79°40'W], 305-365 m, 8-15 Jun 1945, W. H. Camp 3786 (Holotype: US-n.v.; Isotypes: F, K, NY, P).

Description: Rhizomes up to 10 cm long, erect, the scales 10-20 mm long, linear, firm, densely and finely setulose on margins and surfaces, golden brown; leaves up to 1.2 m long; scales of the petiole base 10-20 × 1-2 mm, linear, firm, spreading, denticulate, setulose on surfaces, brown, usually shiny; laminae up to 0.8 m long, 2-pinnate-pinnatisect at base and medially; rachises of the laminae pubescent, the hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, 1- or 2-celled, spreading or appressed-ascending; basal pinnae ca. 20 cm long, equilateral or nearly so, the segments adnate; pinna rachises abaxially non-glandular, densely puberulent, sparsely scaly, the hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, 1- or 2-celled, spreading or appressed-ascending to strigose, the scales 3-4 × ca. 0.1 mm, filiform, loosely spreading, often tortuous, dull brown, entire, adaxially glabrous or pubescent, sparsely scaly or lacking scales, hairs like those abaxially, the scales ca. 1 × 0.1 mm, filiform, entire, appressed, dull, brown; costules abaxially eglandular, glabrous to sparsely scaly and puberulent, the scales filiform, dull brown, entire, hairs ca. 0.1 mm long, 1- or 2-celled, acicular, ascending to strigose, adaxially glabrous or subglabrous to sparsely pubescent, the hairs like those on the pinnae rachises adaxially; laminar tissue between the veins abaxially non-glandular, glabrous to puberulent, the hairs ca. 0.1 mm, 1- or 2-celled, acicular, erect, adaxially non-glandular, glabrous; veins abaxially visible, sparsely puberulent with hairs like those on the costules, adaxially obscure, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, the hairs like those on the pinna rachises; hydathodes evident; lamina margins ciliate, non-glandular, the hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, 1- or 2-celled, erect, acicular, ascending to substrigose; indusia absent.

Distribution: Panama, western Colombia, western Ecuador, eastern slope of the Andes in central Peru; wet forests; 100-1700 m (1000-1300 m in Panama, 100-800 m in Colombia and Ecuador, 1000-1700 in Peru).

Comments: Megalastrum reductum is characterized by basal pinnae equilateral or nearly so, the first two proximal pinnules slightly reduced (thus the name of the specific epithet), and the pinna rachises abaxially evenly puberulent (hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, 1- or 2-celled) and with sparse filiform scales. Acicular hairs ca. 0.1 mm long occur between the veins abaxially, especially near the costules. The rhizome scales appear puberulent on both surfaces, this apparently from the upturned and projecting ends of the cells. Some South American specimens have longer and more highly cut leaves than the Panamanian plants (pers. obs.), being 2-pinnate-pinnatisect medially with free pinnules. Adaxially, Megalastrum reductum varies in the amount of pubescence along the pinna rachises. Some specimens, which have been named M. dorsiglabrum A. Rojas (Rojas, 2008), are glabrous adaxially, whereas others are pubescent (e.g., the type of M. reductum). Some specimens are intermediate, with a few hairs at the base of the pinna rachises adaxially (e.g., Moran 5060). No other difference appears to correlate with the amount of pubescence adaxially; therefore, we recognize a single species. This species occurs on both sides of the Andes, but the populations are slightly different. Those from Panama and the western side of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador show what is termed (Moran, 1995, 1996) a Mesoamerican-Chocó distribution. The type is from this region. Specimens on the eastern side of the Andes in central Peru differ from those of Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama by pinna rachises subglabrous abaxially (very few minute acicular hairs present) and rhizome scales with scattered blackish streaks caused by indurate cells. We feel this is best interpreted as part of the variation in a single species.