Asplenium juglandifolium Lam.

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Smith, Alan R. 2004. The pteridophytes of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 88: 1-1054.

  • Family

    Aspleniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Asplenium juglandifolium Lam.

  • Description

    Species Description - Roots coarse, fibrous, not proliferous; rhizomes short-creeping to suberect; rhizome scales conspicuous, clathrate, iridescent, lumina not occluded, uniseriate at tips and contorted distally, 5– 12 x 0.5–0.7 mm, entire; fronds few (often ca. 2–4), clustered, 35–90 cm; stipes brown or purplish brown, dull, 12–25 cm x 2–4 mm, 1/3–2/3 the frond length, with rare whitish to light tan clavate hairs, not winged; blades thick-herbaceous, yellowish green, deltate-ovate, 1-pinnate, 30–55 x 18–30 cm, each with a +/- conform terminal pinnae; rachises tan to stramineous or greenish, dull to sublustrous, glabrous, flattened or angled, but not winged; pinnae lanceolate to falcate, 2–8(–12) pairs, 10–17 x 1.5–3 cm, stalked to 4 mm, bases inequilateral, broadly to sometimes narrowly cuneate at bases, sometimes inequilaterally so (acroscopic side broader and more broadly cuneate, at least on distal pinnae), attenuate at apices, margins slightly sinuate to entire; veins mostly 2(–3)-forked, evident on both sides of blades, tips conspicuous adaxially; indument abaxially of scattered whitish to tan, appressed, clavate hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long; sori 7–14 pairs per pinna, on both sides of midveins; indusia 8–25 x 0.8–1 mm, margins entire; spores reniform; 2n=288 (Trin).

  • Discussion

    Asplenium falcinellum Maxon, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 13: 14. 1909. Type. Guatemala. Alta Verapaz: Cubilquitz, Tu¨rckheim II.1910 (US!).

    Tryon and Stolze (1993) synonymized A. falcinellum and gave good reasons for doing so; Adams (in Davidse et al., 1995) followed suit. The reputed differences between the two species do not hold upon examination of specimens from throughout the range. Breedlove 33375 (DS), from Chiapas, at 350 m, is close to A. juglandifolium, but the fronds are very small (ca. 20 cm long) with only 2–4 pairs of lateral pinnae, and the pinnae are shallowly crenate. It could be a hybrid or merely a small variant of A. juglandifolium.

  • Distribution

    Epiphytic in lower montane and montane rain forests; 500–950 m. Mexico; Guat, Bel, Nic, CR, Pan; Gr Ant; Col, Ven, Trin, Ec, Peru, Braz, Bol. Also cited from Honduras by Adams (in Davidse et al., 1995).

    Mexico North America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Peru South America| Amazonas Ecuador South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Panama Central America| Costa Rica South America| Nicaragua Central America| Belize Central America| Guatemala Central America|