Notholaena meridionalis Mickel
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Authority
Mickel, John T. & Smith, Alan R. 2004. The pteridophytes of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 88: 1-1054.
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Family
Pteridaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Rhizomes compact, horizontal, 2 mm diam.; rhizome scales linear-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm long, concolorous, dark reddish brown, sclerotic, lustrous, margins short-ciliate-denticulate; fronds 7–23 cm long, clumped; stipes ca. 1/6 the frond length, atropurpureous to black, terete, with narrowly deltate, bicolorous scales (dark reddish brown with pale center) toward the base; blades narrowly oblong, pinnate-pinnatifid, 1.5–3 cm wide; rachises puberulent adaxially with short brown hairs less than 0.1 mm arranged in two rows; pinnae 8–18 pairs, equilateral, shortpetiolate (less than 1 mm), costae dark abaxially, pinnae mostly cut 2/3–4/5 to the midvein; adaxial blade surfaces glabrous; abaxial blade surfaces pale yellow-farinose; laminar margins slightly curved; spores tan to black.
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Discussion
Type. Mexico. Oaxaca: Tehuantepec, Orcutt 3315 (holotype NY!; isotypes GH!, K, MEXU, MO, US!).
A N. lemmonii stipitibus non sulcatis et squamis rhizomatum concoloribus nigrescentibus distincta. (L., meridionalis, south, alluding to the more southerly distribution than its close relative N. affinis.)
Notholaena meridionalis resembles N. lemmonii in its narrow, farinose blades, but can be distinguished by its non-sulcate stipes and rachises. Plants of N. meridionalis have been called Notholaena affinis (Tryon, 1956), but a photograph of the type of N. affinis shows that it has more pinnae and is the same as N. angusta (see comments under N. affinis). Thus, plants treated as Notholaena affinis by Stolze (1981), Mickel and Beitel (1988, as Cheilanthes affinis), and Yatskievych (in Davidse et al., 1995) need a name.