Monographs Details:
Authority:
Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.
Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.
Family:
Nephrolepidaceae
Nephrolepidaceae
Description:
Species Description - Rhizome suberect, stoloniferous, lacking tubers; rhizome scales obscurely bicolorous, linear-lanceolate to filiform, ferrugineous to pale brown, 6-7 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, entire; fronds clumped, erect to usually arching; stipe 10-20 cm long, pale brown, deciduously fibrillose-scaly; blade linear, once-pinnate, 0.4-0.8 m long, 5-8.5 cm wide, narrowed at base; rachis stramineous to pale brown, with dense to scattered fibrillose scales; pinnae subsessile to short-stalked, contiguous or subimbricate at base, mostly subfalcate, 3-4.5 cm long, 8-12 mm wide at the middle, usually rather unequal at the base, with basiscopic lobe rounded to auriculate, acroscopic lobe auriculate, apex obtuse to acute, margins subentire to crenulate; leaf tissue firm-herbaceous, scales fibrillose beneath, 1-1.5 mm long, pale brown, adaxially glabrous or few fibrillose scales; indusia orbicular to orbicular-reniform toward pinna base to usually reniform or lunate toward apex, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, pale brown with dark point of attachment, margin entire.
Species Description - Rhizome suberect, stoloniferous, lacking tubers; rhizome scales obscurely bicolorous, linear-lanceolate to filiform, ferrugineous to pale brown, 6-7 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, entire; fronds clumped, erect to usually arching; stipe 10-20 cm long, pale brown, deciduously fibrillose-scaly; blade linear, once-pinnate, 0.4-0.8 m long, 5-8.5 cm wide, narrowed at base; rachis stramineous to pale brown, with dense to scattered fibrillose scales; pinnae subsessile to short-stalked, contiguous or subimbricate at base, mostly subfalcate, 3-4.5 cm long, 8-12 mm wide at the middle, usually rather unequal at the base, with basiscopic lobe rounded to auriculate, acroscopic lobe auriculate, apex obtuse to acute, margins subentire to crenulate; leaf tissue firm-herbaceous, scales fibrillose beneath, 1-1.5 mm long, pale brown, adaxially glabrous or few fibrillose scales; indusia orbicular to orbicular-reniform toward pinna base to usually reniform or lunate toward apex, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, pale brown with dark point of attachment, margin entire.
Discussion:
Polypodium exaltatum Linnaeus, Syst. nat. ed. 10, 2: 1326. 1759. Type. “Sloane Jam. t. 31” [representing a plant collected by Harlow on Jamaica; see Jenman, J. Bot. 24: 34. 1886]. Nephrolepis exaltata is usually considered pantropical, but many specimens labelled as this species are misidentified other species, especially N. multiflora (recently introduced), which Proctor (1981) reported to have supplanted N. exaltata in open or disturbed situations in Jamaica. The species can be separated from N. cordifolia by N. exaltata having scattered fibrillose scales on lower pinna surface (glabrous in N. cordifolia:), falcate pinnae with acute to attenuate tips (nonfalcate pinnae with blunt tips in N. cordifolia), rachis scales concolorous (pale with dark point of attachment in N. cordifolia), and never having tubers (frequent in N. cordifolia).
Polypodium exaltatum Linnaeus, Syst. nat. ed. 10, 2: 1326. 1759. Type. “Sloane Jam. t. 31” [representing a plant collected by Harlow on Jamaica; see Jenman, J. Bot. 24: 34. 1886]. Nephrolepis exaltata is usually considered pantropical, but many specimens labelled as this species are misidentified other species, especially N. multiflora (recently introduced), which Proctor (1981) reported to have supplanted N. exaltata in open or disturbed situations in Jamaica. The species can be separated from N. cordifolia by N. exaltata having scattered fibrillose scales on lower pinna surface (glabrous in N. cordifolia:), falcate pinnae with acute to attenuate tips (nonfalcate pinnae with blunt tips in N. cordifolia), rachis scales concolorous (pale with dark point of attachment in N. cordifolia), and never having tubers (frequent in N. cordifolia).
Distribution:
Mexico North America| Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Panama Central America| Florida United States of America North America|
Mexico North America| Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Panama Central America| Florida United States of America North America|