Cheilanthes bolborrhiza Mickel & Beitel

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cheilanthes bolborrhiza Mickel & Beitel

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Cheilanthe skinneri similis sed habitu graciliori, rhizomatis squamis concoloribus, indusiis continuis albicantibus, sporis griseo-brunneis, radicibus basi tuberculatis peculiaris. (Gr., bolbos, bulb, and rhiza, root, referring to the swollen root bases.)

    Species Description - Rhizome short, compact; rhizome scales light orange-brown, dull, concolorous, linear-lanceolate, 4 mm long, 0.5 mm wide; root bases swollen (2-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide), black, filled with starchy storage material; fronds to 55 cm tall; stipe 1/3-½ the frond length, stramineous, castaneous only at very base, lustrous, glabrous, grooved; blade broadly debate, tripinnate-pin-natifid to quadripinnate-pinnatifid, basal pinnae opposite to subopposite, rachis grooves run into pinna grooves, pinna rachis and blade rachis with green stripes on upper surface, costae winged, lower pinnae exaggerated basiscopically, ultimate segments elliptic to lanceolate, thin, glabrous, pinnae non-articulate, axes stramineous, color running down pinnule midvein; sori marginal, indusium lateral on segments (not at tips or in sinuses), 0.5 mm wide, 1-6 mm long, margin entire, surface with whitened, modified cells; spores gray-brown.

  • Discussion

    Type. Mexico. Oaxaca: Dist. Pochutla, 43 km N of Pochutla, 11 km N of Candelaria, lowland tropical woods, stream and road banks 2900' [890 m], 1 Oct 1970, Mickel 5207 (NY!; isotypes to be distributed). Cheilanthes bolborrhiza is closely related to C. skinneri but differs in its more delicate appearance, concolorous rhizome scales, indusia never breaking into small flaps, gray-brown spores, whitened indusial surfaces, and unique root storage organs (which give a positive starch reaction with iodine). Two specimens of this species have been collected recently in El Salvador (Dept. San Salvador, Lomas de Candelaria, 850 m, Seiler 456, 579, NY), which agree in all details, including the root storage organs.

  • Distribution

    Moist, tropical wooded stream banks; Pochutla; 900 m. Mexico (Oax), Salv. Oaxaca collection: 5207.

    Mexico North America| El Salvador Central America|