Diplazium centripetale (Baker) Maxon
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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, stout, up to 30 cm long or more, the apex densely clothed with dark brown, narrowly lance-attenuate scales up to 12 mm long, with contorted filiform tips. Fronds 70-150 cm long; stipes much shorter than the blades, succulent, densely clothed (especially toward base) with long, spreading, dark brown, lance-attenuate scales with tortuous filiform tips; similar scales also on rhachis. Blades oblong-lanceolate to oblong, 20-50 cm broad, somewhat narrowed at base, abruptly pinnatifid-acuminate at apex; rhachis deeply grooved on adaxial side. Pinnae 15-25 pairs, narrowly oblong to ligulate, subcordate- truncate or subauriculate at base, acute or short-acuminate at apex, the larger ones 10-25 cm long, 2.5-5 cm broad, the margins nearly entire to sinuate-crenate; costae bisulcate abaxially, and bearing small yellowish scales; veins prominulous, in pinnately-branched groups, Sori symmetrically arranged toward base of veingroups, the basal pair of each cluster the longest and about equal, up to 15 mm long or more, nearly all diplazioid; indusium nanow, pale brown.
Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Greater Antilles except Cuba; Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Trinidad. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Occurs rather widely in the Siena de Luquillo, Siena de Cayey, and the Cordillera Central; recorded from Adjuntas, Barranquitas, Cayey, Ceiba, Jayuya, Naguabo, Orocovis, Patillas, Ponce, and Rio Grande. Habitat. Moist shaded gullies and sheltered slopes in wet forest at middle to high elevations (450-1240 m), locally common,
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Discussion
Basionym. Asplenium centripetale Baker in Hooker & Baker, Syn. fil. ed. 2, 490. 1874.
Lectotype. Macfadyen, from Jamaica (K).
Syn, Asplenium celtidifolium of Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W.L 685. 1864, not Mettenius, 1856.