Vittaria flavicosta Mickel & Beitel

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Vittaria flavicosta Mickel & Beitel

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Lamina lata, costa adaxialiter straminea, sporaeque tetrahedrales hanc speciem ab affinibus semovent. (L., flavus, yellow, and costa, midvein, referring to the midvein color on the upper side.)

    Species Description - Rhizome horizontal, compact, 1-1.5 mm diam.; rhizome scales clathrate, uniform in width, 3-5 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm wide (4-8 cells at base), apex narrowed to hairlike tip, cell walls somewhat dimorphic, those of central part of scale thicker and darker than cell walls near margin; fronds to 25 cm long, 2.0-2.5(-4.0) mm wide at widest point, 0.8-1.0 mm wide at base, often somewhat falcate, margin not recurved; midrib stramineous, visible on upper surface, prominent on lower surface; paraphyses stout, 0.1 mm long or less, medium to dark red-brown, with enlarged apical cell (ovate, 2 times or more longer than wide); spores tetrahedral-globose, clear, colorless to yellowish.

  • Discussion

    Type. Mexico. Oaxaca: Dist. Ixtlán, 79 km N of Ixtlán de Juárez on Rte 175, 1 km S of Campamento Vista Hermosa, ca. 1 hour hike on trail toward Tarabundi, 3850-4600' [1170-1400 m], 27 Jul 1971, Mickel 5663 (NY!; isotypes to be distributed). This species has the broadest fronds of any of the V. graminifolia complex and occurs along the Atlantic slope from Oaxaca to Costa Rica at low to middle elevations. The width of the blade (2-4 mm) and stramineous adaxial midrib distinguish it from V. graminifolia and V. dimorpha, whereas the tetrahedral spores and lack of paraphyses with top-shaped apical cells (as wide as long) separate it from the broader species of the subgenus Radiovittaria (V. gardneriana Fée, V. stipitata Kunze, etc.). Non-Oaxacan collections (NY) include specimens from Chiapas (Breedlove 31523, Dressier 1601), Guatemala (Türckheim 11-1689, Maxon & Hay 3298), and Costa Rica (Maxon 653).

  • Distribution

    Epiphytic in wet montane forests; Choapan, Cuicatlán, Ixtlán, Mixe, Tehuantepec, Teotitlán, Tuxtepec, Villa Alta; 150-1400 m. Mexico (Oax, Chis); Guat, CR. Oaxaca collections: 1039, 1436, 4753, 5663, 5838, 5869, 5910, 5944, 6414, 7140, 7278; Hallberg 1266, 1276, 1352, 1548, 1636, 1771 (NY); Wendt et al. 3305 (NY).

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