Thelypteris

Authority

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

Family

Thelypteridaceae

Scientific Name

Thelypteris

Description

Species Description - Small to moderately large tenestrial or saxicolous fems. Rhizomes slender and wide-creeping to thick and erect, usually clothed at the apex with scales that may be glabrous, hairy, or glandular. Fronds scattered to fasciculate; stipes not articulate. Blades usually 1 -pinnate or 1 -pinnate-pinnatifid (rarely simple or 2-pinnate), not or but slightly dimorphic, glabrous or commonly pubescent, the hairs simple, forked, or stellate, the veins either free (simple or forked), more or less connivent at sinuses, or variously reticulate (adjacent pairs of veins joined, and at their junction producing a short, simple excunent veinlet). Sori roundish or elliptic (rarely somewhat elongate or diflfiise), dorsal on veins, with or without indusium; indusium (if present) usually roundish-reniform, attached at the sinus (rarely somewhat elongate and attached laterally). Paraphyses usually absent. Spores ellipsoidal, monolete, the perispore variously reticulate, crested, or winged, rarely papillate or spiny.

Distribution and Ecology - Thelypteris, in the broad sense accepted here, is the largest genus of fems, with nearly a thousand species distributed over much ofthe world. Excluding varieties and unnamed hybrids, 44 taxa have been found in Puerto Rico, of which six are believed to be endemic. Special Literature (since 1960). Morton, C. V. 1963. Some West Indian species of Thelypteris. Amer. F em J. 53: 57-70; Morton, C. V. 1963. The classification of Thelypteris, op. cit. 149-154; Ching. 1963. A reclassification of the family Thelypteridaceae from the mainland of Asia. Acta Phytotax. Sin. 8: 289-335; Iwatsuki. 1964, Classification of the genus Thelypteris. Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 21: 35-42; Reed, C. F. 1968. Index Thelypteridis. Phytologia 17(4): 249-328; Smith, A. R. 1971, Systematics ofthe neotropical species of Thelypteris sect. Cyclosorus. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 59: 1-143. 1971 (a brief comparison of diflferent schemes of classification is given in 'Nomenclatural history and classification; pp. 41-47); Holttum, R. E. 1973. The family Thelypteridaceae in the Old World. J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 67, suppl, 1, pp, 173-189; Holttum, R. E. 1974. Thelypteridaceae of Africa and adjacent islands. J. S. African Bot. 40(2): 123-168; Smith, A. R. 1974. A revised classification of Thelypteris subg. Amauropelta. Amer. Fern J. 64:83-95; Smith, A. R. 1980. Taxonomy of Thelypteris subgenus Steiropteris, including Glaphyropteris (Pteridophyta). Univ. Calif Publ, Bot. 76: 1-38, t. 1-4; Proctor, G. R. 1985, N e w species of Thelypteris from Puerto Rico, Amer, F e m J. 75: 56-70, figs. 1-6.

Discussion

Type Species. Thelypteris palustris Schott, based on Polypodium palustre Salisbury (an illegitimate name), a semicosmopolitan species of temperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres.