Trichomanes robustum E.Fourn.

  • Authority

    Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.

  • Family

    Hymenophyllaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Trichomanes robustum E.Fourn.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome wide-creeping, mostly 1.5-2 mm in diam., densely clothed throughout with lustrous, blackish-brown, septate hairs mostly 1.5-2.5 mm long. Fronds distant, stiffly erect, mostly 14-25 cm long; stipes usually 4-9 cm long, terete and unwinged, dark brown, deciduously clothed with brown, acicular hairs (much smaller than those of rhizome), each arising from a minute resinous glandular basal cell. Blades narrowly deltate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 9-19 cm long, 2.5-6 cm broad below the middle, essentially pinnate in the basal half, deeply pinnatifid toward apex, gradually narrowed distally to a blunt or acutish tip, slightly reduced at base; rhachis dark brown, sparsely pubescent like the stipe, norrowly greenwinged between pinnae, the wings 0.3-0.8 mm wide; pinnae and segments 17-27 pairs, oblong, close and often overlapping, up to 3 cm long, 6- 10 mm broad, rounded at apex, at least the lower ones constricted at base, the slightly crenulate margins distantly ciliate with simple hairs like those of rhachis and stipe; veins 6-14 pairs, 1-to 3-forked, slightly prominulous; tissue firmly membranous, dark green, translucent. Sori 1-8 per segment, confined to apical part of segments of distal half of blade, slightly exserted; involucres oblong-funnelform, ca. 2 mm long, 0.8-1 mm broad at the nearly truncate mouth.

  • Discussion

    Type. LHerminier in 1842, from Guadeloupe (not seen; there is an authentic specimen labelled ''LHerminier 1862'' at US).

    Syn. Trichomanes crispum of Hooker & Greville, Icon. filic. 1: t. 12. 1828, not Linnaeus, 1753.

    Trichomanes accedens of Fee, Mem. foug. 11: 105. 1866, ? notK. Presl, 1849.

    ? Trichomanes procerum Fee, Mem. foug. 11:106, t. 28, fig. 2. 1866, (Type, de Tussac, from "in Antillis," probably Haiti or Jamaica, not seen,)

    The status of this name is in doubt, but it has priority over robustum if it applies to the same species.

    Trichomanes crispum var. pellucens of Jenman, Fems Brit. W . Ind. 26. 1898, not T. pellucens Kunze, 1834.

    ? Trichomanes crispum var. procerum (Fee) Jenman, Fems Brit. W. Ind. 26. 1898.

    ? Trichomanes accedens var. procerum (Fee) Domin, Pter. Dominica 53, 1929.

  • Distribution

    Greater and Lesser Antilles, and northem South America. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Occurs in the Siena de Luquillo and Cordillera Central; recorded from Canovanas, Ciales, Jayuya and Rio Grande. Habitat. Chiefly on mossy logs, slanted mossy tree-trunks, and in deep humus on floor of wet montane forest at upper middle to high elevations (700-1300 m), locally frequent.

    West Indies| South America|