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:
Pteridaceae
Pteridaceae
Description:
Species Description - Rhizome stout, woody, decumbent or ascending, clothed at apex with a dense tuft of rigid bicolorous scales 2.5-5 mm long, these narrowly deltate-attenuate, consisting of a lustrous black linear midrib and broad, thin, pale brownish, inegularly fimbriate-ciliate margins with delicately clathrate cell structure. Fronds mostly 1-1.5 m long, of thin but somewhat harsh texture; stipes stout, about equalling or sometimes exceeding the blades, light brownish or strawcolored, smooth, glabrous but with a few linear deciduous scales when young, deeply several-grooved adaxially. Blades broadly tripartite or subpentagonal, up to 1 m broad across the greatly enlarged basal pinnae; rhachis glabrous except for patches of minute dark papillae adaxially at base of costae; pinnae 6-9 pairs above the basal enlarged ones, plus a similar apical pinna, all oblong-attenuate, sessile or short-stalked, 2,5-4.5 cm broad, with usually 20-30 pairs of close, narrowly linear-oblong segments 4-7 mm broad, these finely serrulate at the acute, mucronate apex; basal pinnae evenly pinnate-pinnatifid, similar in outline to the apical portion ofthe blade; costae and secondary costae bearing a few minute, adpressed, septate hairs in groups beside bases of costules on abaxial side; veins 1- or 2-forked, in sterile segments the slightly enlarged tips not quite reaching the margins. Indusium pale, firm, ca. 0.5 mm wide, the margin entire.
Species Description - Rhizome stout, woody, decumbent or ascending, clothed at apex with a dense tuft of rigid bicolorous scales 2.5-5 mm long, these narrowly deltate-attenuate, consisting of a lustrous black linear midrib and broad, thin, pale brownish, inegularly fimbriate-ciliate margins with delicately clathrate cell structure. Fronds mostly 1-1.5 m long, of thin but somewhat harsh texture; stipes stout, about equalling or sometimes exceeding the blades, light brownish or strawcolored, smooth, glabrous but with a few linear deciduous scales when young, deeply several-grooved adaxially. Blades broadly tripartite or subpentagonal, up to 1 m broad across the greatly enlarged basal pinnae; rhachis glabrous except for patches of minute dark papillae adaxially at base of costae; pinnae 6-9 pairs above the basal enlarged ones, plus a similar apical pinna, all oblong-attenuate, sessile or short-stalked, 2,5-4.5 cm broad, with usually 20-30 pairs of close, narrowly linear-oblong segments 4-7 mm broad, these finely serrulate at the acute, mucronate apex; basal pinnae evenly pinnate-pinnatifid, similar in outline to the apical portion ofthe blade; costae and secondary costae bearing a few minute, adpressed, septate hairs in groups beside bases of costules on abaxial side; veins 1- or 2-forked, in sterile segments the slightly enlarged tips not quite reaching the margins. Indusium pale, firm, ca. 0.5 mm wide, the margin entire.
Discussion:
Type. Link, from a plant cultivated at the Berlin Botanic Garden, originating from Brazil (B, photos GH, US).
Distribution:
Puerto Rico South America| South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Adjuntas Puerto Rico South America| Barranquitas Puerto Rico South America| Ciales Puerto Rico South America| Jayuya Puerto Rico South America| Peñuelas Puerto Rico South America| Utuado Puerto Rico South America|
Puerto Rico South America| South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Adjuntas Puerto Rico South America| Barranquitas Puerto Rico South America| Ciales Puerto Rico South America| Jayuya Puerto Rico South America| Peñuelas Puerto Rico South America| Utuado Puerto Rico South America|