Diplazium grandifolium (Sw.) Sw.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Athyriaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Diplazium grandifolium (Sw.) Sw.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizomes erect, stout, trunk-like, caudices 1.5-2.5 cm diam.; rhizome scales dark brown or blackish, lanceolate, mostly 3-7 x 0.5-1.5 mm, entire; fronds to 120 cm long; stipes purplish to brownish, 35-60 cm x 2-4 mm, 1/3 to nearly 1/2 the frond length, scaly at bases, otherwise glabrous; blades chartaceous, 1-pinnate, 30-70 x 15-30 cm, apices pinnatifid, buds absent; rachises abaxially with scattered minute hairs 0.1-0.2 mmlong; pinnae stalked to 5 mm, equilateral, 9-12(-15) pairs per blade, oblong to lanceolate, 11-15 x 2-4 cm, bases rounded to truncate, apices acuminate, the margins subentire to broadly crenate, or serrate towards apices; veins free, 2-3(-4)-forked, all branches strongly ascending and becoming ± parallel as they approach the pinna margins; indument adaxially of dense hairs 0.1 mm long in rachial and costal grooves, abaxially with scattered brownish linear hair-like scales and septate hairs to ca. 1 mm long; sori 8-15 x 0.5 mm, those on first acroscopic veinlet usually diplazioid, those on first basiscopic veinlet asplenioid, sori often produced only on acroscopic veins, and thus appearing ± parallel along the length of the pinnae, or on one acroscopic and one basiscopic vein of a vein group, indusia brown with paler, delicate, minutely erose to subentire margins; 2n=ca. 328 (Jam, Trin).

  • Discussion

    Asplenium grandifolium Sw., Prodr. 130. 1788. Type. Jamaica. Swartz s.n. (S- photo US; isotype B-Willd. 19946, microfiche UC!).

    Our specimen is referable to var. grandifolium; var. andicola Stolze occurs in Andean South America (Stolze et al., 1994), and that entity may be sufficiently distinct to warrant recognition at species rank. Diplazium grandifolium is distinguished from congeners in Mexico by the 1-pinnate blades ending in pinnatifid or confluent triangular apices, entire or faintly crenate pinnae,lack of buds in axils of distal pinnae, and 2–3-forked veins running in ± parallel fashion to pinna margins.

  • Distribution

    Terrestrial in montane rain forests; 150 m. Mexico; Guat, Bel, Hond, Nic, CR, Pan; Gr Ant; Col, Ven, Trin, Tob, Ec, Peru, Braz, Bol.

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