Mickel, John T. & Smith, Alan R. 2004. The pteridophytes of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 88: 1-1054.
Blechnaceae
Species Description - Rhizomes long-creeping, climbing; rhizome scales bicolorous, uniformly pale brown or with a narrow, dark, central stripe, linear-lanceolate, 7-12 x 0.5-0.8 mm, with curved marginal teeth 0.1-0.3 mm long, directed both forward and backward; fronds strongly dimorphic, distant, 25-100 cm long; stipes 7-15(-28) cm x 1-2 mm, 1/6-1/4 the frond length, atropurpureous proximally, sometimes becoming stramineous distally, glabrous; sterile blades chartaceous to subcoriaceous, pinnatisect, 40-65 x (2-)3-5(-8) cm, bases gradually reduced to deltate or semicircular lobes, blade apices pinnatifid to entire, acuminate; rachises atropurpureous to stramineous abaxially, glabrous or nearly so, lacking aerophores at pinna bases; sterile pinnae adnate, (1.5-)2-4 x 1 cm, obliquely triangular to falcate, apices acute, margins entire, glabrous on both sides; veins distinct, simple or 1-forked, with enlarged vein endings readily visible abaxially; fertile pinnae 4-6(-9) cm x 1-2 mm, indusia 0.5 mm wide, entire; 2n=58 (Jam).
Lomaria fragilis Liebm., Mexic. Bregn. 232 (reprint 80). 1849. Blechnum binervatum (Poir.) C. V. Morton & Lellinger subsp. fragile (Liebm.) R. M. Tryon & Stolze, Fieldiana, Bot. 32: 64. 1993. Lectotype (chosen by Smith, 1981: 59). Mexico. Veracruz: Barranca de Huitamalco, Liebmann s.n. [Pl. Mex. 2321, Fl. Mex. 773] (C!; isolectotypes NY!, US).
Osmunda polypodioides Sw., Prodr. 127. 1788. Blechnum onocleoides Sw., J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 75. 1801, nom. superfl.. Lomaria polypodioides (Sw.) Desv., Me´m. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 288. 1827, hom. illeg., non Gaudich., 1825. Lomaria onocleoides (Sw.) Spreng., Syst. Veg., ed. 16, 4: 62. 1827. Blechnum polypodioides (Sw.) Kuhn, Filic. Afr. 92. 1858, hom. illeg., non Raddi, 1819. Type. Jamaica. Swartz s.n. (S; isotypes B, BM!, photo NY!).
Lomaria mexicana Fe´e, Me´m. Foug. 8: 70. 1857. Syntypes. Mexico. Galeotti 6465 (P? not seen); Totutla, Mirador, Huatusco, Schaffner 100 (P? not seen).
The scandent rhizomes with distant, dimorphic fronds, rhizome scales with curved teeth, and abaxially enlarged vein endings distinguish B. fragile and B. ensiforme from other species of Blechnum in Mexico. The two species can be separated by the characters in the key. The B. fragile/ensiforme complex in the Neotropics needs reexamination. Blechnum fragile from Central America has bicolorous rhizome scales as does some material corresponding to B. fragile from the West Indies, whereas other specimens (from Puerto Rico and Hispaniola especially) have concolorous scales. The relationship of this to B. binervatum (Poir.) C. V. Morton & Lellinger of the Lesser Antilles and South America, which has concolorous rhizome scales, distant pinnae, wider blades, and abruptly reduced proximal pinnae, requires clarification, but we regard them as distinct species, contrary to Tryon and Stolze (1993).
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