Diplazium grandifolium (Sw.) Sw.
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Authority
Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.
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Family
Athyriaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Rhizome erect, 1.5-2.5 cm thick, clothed at apex with thick, blackish, deltate-acuminate scales mostly 3-4 mm long. Fronds erect, to 1.1 m long; stipes blackish-brown, one-half to nearly as long as the blades, bearing a few blackish scales toward base, otherwise naked. Blades lance-oblong, 30-70 cm long, 15-30 cm broad, truncate at base, sharply acuminate at the subentire apex, 1-pinnate; pinnae usually 10-15 pairs, narrowly oblong, 2-4 cm broad, rounded-truncate at base, acuminate-falcate at apex, the margins subentire to lightly sinuate-crenate (rarely deeply crenate in the basal part), sometimes sharply senate toward apex; veins pinnately branched, all branches reaching the margins; tissue firmly papery to subsucculent, glabrous. Sori linear, unequal, to 15 mm long, those on the first acroscopic veinlet usually diplazioid; indusium dark brown with a pale, delicate, minutely erose margin.
Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Greater Antilles, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Tobago, Trinidad, and continental tropical America. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Known from but a single collection. Rio Grande: "Luquillo Mts." without exact locality, 17 Jul 1902, P Wilson 318 (US). Habitat. Probably in a moist sheltered ravine at a middle elevation (400-600 m), very rare. The continued existence of this species in Puerto Rico needs to be confirmed.
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Discussion
Basionym. Asplenium grandifolium Swartz, Prodr. 130. 1788.
Type, Swartz, from Jamaica (S, photo U S ; isotype Herb. Willd. 19946, B, photos G H , US).