Dennstaedtia bipinnata (Cav.) Maxon

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Dennstaedtiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Dennstaedtia bipinnata (Cav.) Maxon

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome 0.6-1 cm in diam., densely clothed toward apex with reddish-brown translucent, slightly viscid, articulate hairs 2-4 mm long. Fronds to 3 m long; stipes to 1 m long or more, dark brown esp. toward base, there clothed with hairs like those of rhizome, grooved esp. adaxially. Blades deltate, up to 1 m broad or more near base, 3-pinnate-pinnatifid to nearly 4-pinnate, sparsely and minutely pubescent throughout abaxially; rhachis deeply grooved adaxially, terete beneath and finely raised-punctulate where hairs have fallen; pinnae stalked, ascending, inequilateral at base (at least the basal acroscopic pinnules longer than the conesponding basiscopic ones); secondary pinnules more or less ovateoblong, stalked but with a nanow basiscopic wing decunent onto the secondary costae, pinnatifid, when fertile with a sorus on a lobule at the base of each sinus; ultimate segments obtusely to acutely toothed; veins subdichotomously branched, prominulous adaxially, the sterile tips not quite reaching the margin; tissue firmly herbaceous, lustrous. Sori 0.7-1 mm in diam., the indusial cup broadly cylindric or subglobose, round or slightly elliptic in outline.

  • Discussion

    Basionym. Dicksonia bipinnata Cavanilles, Descr. pl. 174. 1802.

    Type. Ventenat, from Puerto Rico (MA, not seen; isotype Herb. Willd. 20165-A, B, fragm. US).

    Syn. Polypodium bacciferum Poiret in Lamarck, Encycl. 5: 554. 1804. (Type, Plumier, Traite foug, Amer., t. 31 (=Descr. pl, Amer., t. 45), based on a plant from Port-de-Paix, Haiti.)

    Dicksonia adiantoides Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow in Linnaeus, Sp, pl, 5: 488. 1810.(Type. Based on Dicksonia bipinnata Cav.)

    Dicksonia globuligera Desvaux, Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 317. 1827. (Based on Polypodium bacciferum Poiret.)

    Dennstaedtia adiantoides (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) Moore, Index fil, xcvii, 1857.

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Florida, Greater Antilles, Trinidad, and continental tropical America from Mexico to Peru and Bolivia.

    United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Central America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Peru South America| Ecuador South America| Colombia South America|