Morton, Conrad V. & Lellinger, David B. 1966. The Polypodiaceae subfamily Asplenioideae in Venezuela. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 15: 1-49.
Aspleniaceae
Species Description - Rhizome erect, terrestrial; fronds numerous, up to 40 cm long; the stipes dull brownish, much shorter than the blades, narrowly winged at apex; blades mostly ovate-lanceolate, tripinnate, attenuate to a pinnatifid apex, usually reduced at the base, up to 30 cm long and 10 cm broad, the rhachis brown, strongly green-winged; pinnae mostly 15-20 pairs, often sub-opposite, horizontally spreading, mostly short-petiolulate, bipinnate, mostly with 6-8 pairs of pinnules, these with 1-3 pairs of ultimate segments, these mostly oblanceolate or sometimes linear, narrowed at base, obtuse at apex, very thin in texture, the ultimate segments one-veined or some of them broader, bilobed, and 2-veined; sori solitary in the lobes, elliptic to linear-oblong.
Distribution and Ecology - Common in the Greater Antilles; Mexico to Peru. In Venezuela in the states of Sucre, Monagas, Distrito Federal, Aragua, Lara, and Zulia.
Caenopteris myriophylla Swartz, Journ. Bot. Schrader 1800(2): 60. 1801. Type: Jamaica, Swartz (holotype S, photograph US).
Asplenium monteverdense Hooker, Second Century Ferns t. 41. I860. Type: Monteverde, Oriente, Cuba, Wright 1029 (isot)pe US).
Asplenium montei'erdense var. shermanianum Jenman, Bull. Dept. Bot. Jamaica 1: 60. 1894. Type: Mount Moses. Jamaica, in 1874, Sherman B. Wilson. According to notes by Maxon taken of the type of myriophylla, it is exactly the same as var. shermanianum.
In Venezuela this species is an inhabitant of shaded banks and bluffs on humid mountain slopes at elevations between 1175 and 2700 m. It is strictly terrestrial. Throughout its range it is a highly variable species, and a number of segregates have been proposed, one of which Hieronymus (Hedwigia 61: 15. 1919) attempted to maintain on rhizome scale characters, namely Asplenium rhizophyllum (Thunberg.) Kunze (1834), which is an illegitimate later homonym of A. rhizophyllum L. (1753). It may well be that a detailed study would show that several species are involved in the complex. In the early literature, this species was reported to be radicant at the apex, but none of the numerous specimens show this character, which may have been inferred from specimens with unusually attenuate apices