Asplenium auritum var. obtusum Kunze & Mett.
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Authority
Morton, Conrad V. & Lellinger, David B. 1966. The Polypodiaceae subfamily Asplenioideae in Venezuela. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 15: 1-49.
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Family
Aspleniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Cultivated specimens from the botanical garden in Berlin in 1833 and Leipzig in 1840. The following, the second of the original syntypes, is here designated as lectotype: A specimen labelled “A. auritum Sw. var. pinnis obtusis," ex Hort. Lips. (B, photograph 9592) . Mettenius based the var. obtusum on the plant mentioned by Kunze (Linnaea 23: 232. 1850) as "A. auritum Sw. var. pinn. obtusis,” which is the sheet chosen above as lectotype. Mettenius did not give any description other than the words ‘‘pinn. obtusis," but the varietal name is validly published by his illustration with analyses, this doubtless made from the specimen cited above.
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Description
Species Description - Rhachis pale green, obviously alate toward apex and more or less alate toward the base; pinnae usually obtuse, not lobed and only slightly toothed, with a small rounded auricle, this completely adnate and not separated from the rest of the pinna by sinuses.
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Discussion
Asplenium macilentum Klotzsch ex Kunze, Linnaea 20: 351. 1857. Syntypes: Herb. Willdenow no. 19890 (as A. laxum Willd., ined.) ; Brazil, Sellow; “in truncis vetustis Caripe,” Venezuela, Moritz 183; near Caracas, Venezuela, Moritz 100 (B, photographs 9602, 9610) , and 100? (B, photograph 9611; fragment ex B, NY) ; British Guiana, Schomburgk 1168 (B, photograph 9601, referable to var. auritum) . The specimen in the Willdenow Herbarium, no. 19890, is here designated lectotype. Asplenium auritum var. macilentum (Klotzsch) Moore, Ind. Fil. 115. 1859.
There is in Venezuela an extremely small plant in which the pinnae are subentire and almost completely lacking a superior auricle, or sometimes the whole blade is only 3 cm long and merely pinnatifid or even subentire. Although at first sight this appears to be a different species, it is probably only an extremely reduced or depauperate form of var. obtusum. It was collected long ago at Bocono, Merida, by Karsten (W), and recently in the Parque Nacional Henri Pittier, Aragua, by Steyermark (No. 89888). A specimen collected by E. Garcia (No. 9) has some small blades and some that are intermediate in size to typical var. obtusum.