Danaea elliptica Sm.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Marattiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Danaea elliptica Sm.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, horizontal, green, 8-10 mm diam.; rhizome scales light or dark brown; stipe ½-2/3 the frond length, olive-brown, glabrous or with remote, appressed, black to brown scales, with 2-5 nodes; fronds to 1 m tall, 13-35 cm wide; pinnae 3-6 pairs, sterile pinnae 9-17 cm long, 2.5-4.5 cm wide, narrowly elliptic, margin subentire, base cuneate, apex acuminate; laminar scales sparse, heavier on midvein, midvein not scaly; lamina chartaceous, olive-green; veins simple to once-forked; fertile pinnae similar to sterile ones in shape, 5.5-11.5 cm long, 1.2-2.3 cm wide; synangia 33-118 per pinna.

  • Discussion

    Lectotype (chosen by Proctor, Fl. L. Antill. 2: 48. 1977). Sloane Herb. 1: 85, representing a plant from Jamaica, Mt. Diablo (BM). Danaea elliptica resembles D. nodosa in the broad sterile pinnae but the former has nodose stipes, fewer pinnae, and more widely spaced veins.

  • Distribution

    Terrestrial in wet montane forests of Atlantic slope; Ixtlán; (180-)450-850 m. Mexico (Ver, Oax, Chis); Guat to Pan; WI, Trin; Col to Gui, s to Bol, Braz.

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