Polypodium pectinatum L.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Polypodiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Polypodium pectinatum L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, 4-10 mm thick, clothed with numerous dark brown, non-clathrate scales 4-6 mm long, these flexuous-filiform from a narrowly deltate base, the margins distantly septate-ciliate. Fronds 25-100 cm long or more; stipes mostly 3-12 cm long (rarely more), purple-brown, scaly at base, thinly pilosellous with acicular hairs less than 0.5 mm long. Blades linear-oblong to lance-elliptic or oblanceolate, 20- 90 cm long, 5-17 cm broad at or slightly above the middle, somewhat tapering at both ends, short-acuminate at apex, at base abmptly reduced to a few pairs of lobes; rhachis like the stipe but also with rather numerous, much shorter, pluricellular ("ctenoid") hairs; segments numerous, linear-ligulate, 3-7 mm broad, obtuse at apex, symmetrically expanded at base onto the rhachis, the margins entire; veins mostly 2-forked, the ultimate veinlets free or sometimes casually joined near the margins; tissue firmly herbaceous, puberulous with small fine erect acicular hairs up to 0.25 mm long. Sori medial, round, with a few clavate paraphyses, terminal on first acroscopic branches of veins; sporangia glabrous or with one inconspicuous minute seta.

    Distribution - General Distribution. Greater and Lesser Antilles, and continental tropical America from Costa Rica to Peru. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Of wide occurrence throughout the island; recorded from Adjuntas, Aibonito, Arecibo, Barranquitas, Cayey, Coamo, Fajardo, Guaynabo, Isabela, Las Marias, Maricao, Mayaguez, Naguabo, Ponce, Quebradillas, Rio Grande, Trujillo Alto, Utuado, Vega Alta, Villalba, Yabucoa, and Yauco. Ecology: Habitat. On shaded rocks, mossy boulders and cliflfs, on trunks and branches of trees, and sometimes growdng in the root-masses of bromeliads and aroids, at middle to upper middle elevations (175-860 m), common.

  • Discussion

    Lectotype. Plumier, Descr. pl. Amer., t. 37 (chosen by Evans, 1969), based on material from Martinique; authentic Plumier specimens exist (Herb. Surian 434, P; and Herb. Jussieu 1097-A, P). Linnaeus ascribed this species to Jamaica on the basis of a Sloane plant cited by Plumier (Traite foug. Amer. 64. 1705).

    Syn. Polypodium otites of Willdenow in Linnaeus, Sp. pl. 5: 177. 1810, not Linnaeus, 1753. (Type. Vahl. "Habitat in America," Herb. Willd. 19653.

    Goniophlebium pectinatum (Linnaeus) J. Smith, London J. Bot. 4: 57. 1842.

    Pecluma pectinata (Linnaeus) M. Price, Amer. Fern L 73: 115. 1983.

  • Distribution

    Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| Puerto Rico South America| Adjuntas Puerto Rico South America| Aibonito Puerto Rico South America| Arecibo Puerto Rico South America| Barranquitas Puerto Rico South America| Cayey Puerto Rico South America| Coamo Puerto Rico South America| Fajardo Puerto Rico South America| Guaynabo Puerto Rico South America| Isabela Puerto Rico South America| Las Marías Puerto Rico South America| Maricao Puerto Rico South America| Mayagüez Puerto Rico South America| Naguabo Puerto Rico South America| Ponce Puerto Rico South America| Quebradillas Puerto Rico South America| Rio Grande do Sul Brazil South America| Trujillo Alto Puerto Rico South America| Utuado Puerto Rico South America| Vega Alta Puerto Rico South America| Villalba Puerto Rico South America| Yabucoa Puerto Rico South America| Yauco Puerto Rico South America|