Acrostichum danaeifolium Langsd. & Fisch.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Acrostichum danaeifolium Langsd. & Fisch.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizomes massive, clothed at the apex with rigid, spreading, linear or narrowly lanceolate, light- to dark-brown scales up to 2 cm long. Fronds erect, up to 4 m long or more; stipes very stout and subwoody, grooved on adaxial side, dark brown (at least on fertile fronds), clothed at base with broadly linear scales up to 2.5 cm long and 3 mm broad, these bicolorous, having a dark brown longitudinal band in the middle and paler, retrorsely fibrillose margins. Fronds dimorphic, the sterile ones 1.5-3.5 m long, the fertile ones taller and more rigidly erect; pinnae very numerous, usually 20-40 pairs or more and a similar terminal one, both the sterile and fertile ones often crowded and subimbricate; tissue chartaceous, often finely pubescent beneath, the margins lightly repand-cartilaginous. Fertile pinnae rather fleshy in texture.

    Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Widespread in tropical and subtropical America. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Probably occurs in all coastal municipios; recorded from Arecibo, Carolina, Coamo, Dorado, Humacao, Loiza, Mayagñez, Quebradillas, Rio Grande, San Juan, and Vega Alta; also Mona and Vieques. Virgin Islands. St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola. Habitat. Saline or brackish swamps and estuaries at or near sea-level; also sometimes occurs in crevices of old masonry or on cliflfs near the sea, and along fresh-water streams or in swamps at inland localities up to middle elevations (345 m), common, sometimes abundant.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 50.

    Type. Langsdorff, from Santa Catarina Island, Brazil (LE, not seen).

    Syn. Chrysodium lomarioides Jenman, Timehri 4: 314. 1885, not Acrostichum lomarioides Bory, 1833.

    (Type. Jenman, from Guyana, not seen.)

    Acrostichum lomarioides (Jenman) Jenman, Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica n.s. 5: 154. 1898, not Bory, 1833.

    Acrostichum excelsum Maxon, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 18: 224. 1905. (Based on Chrysodium lomarioides Jenman.)

    This species occasionally hybridizes with Acrostichum aureum.