Asplenium salicifolium L.

  • Authority

    Morton, Conrad V. & Lellinger, David B. 1966. The Polypodiaceae subfamily Asplenioideae in Venezuela. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 15: 1-49.

  • Family

    Aspleniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Asplenium salicifolium L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizomes erect, usually epiphytic; fronds few, the stipes often nearly as long as the blades; blades olive green, herbaceous, simply pinnate, 10-20 cm broad, the rhachis gray-green, hardly winged; pinnae 8-16 pairs, petiolulate, inequilaterally oblong or lanceolate, long-attenuate, falcate, the superior base subcordate, overlapping the rhachis, the upper margin with 17-39 rounded teeth; veins mostly once-forked.

    Distribution and Ecology - West Indies; Mexico to the Guianas and Colombia. In Venezuela known only from Margarita Island (Nueva Esparta) and Territorio Delta Amacuro (Steyermark 87722).

  • Discussion

    Asplenium gibbosum Fee, Gen. Fil. 195. 1852. Type: Guadeloupe, Perrottet. The description indicates that the pinnae have the lower base “semicordate,” which is not true in A. salicifolium, and the number of pairs of pinnae (17-19) is larger than known, and the general dimensions are also somewhat greater. Therefore, the reference of this to A. salicifolium in the Index Filicum needs to be verified.

    Asplenium bicrenatum Liebm. Dansk. Vidensk. Selsk. Skrift. V, 1: 245. (Seors. 93). 1849.

    Type: District Chinantla, Oaxaca, Mexico, Liebmann (fragment US) .

    Asplenium samanae Brause, Repert. Sp. Nov. Fedde 18: 247. 1922. Type: Samana Peninsula. Dominican Republic, Abbott 114 (isotype US) .

    Asplenium salicifolium L. var. krugii Christ, Bot. Jahrb. Engler 24: 103. 1897. Type: Jaguey, Cuba, Eggers 4927.

    Type: This Linnaean species has been variously interpreted. There are two specimens in the Linnaean Herbarium in London. Sheet 1250 (10), from a microfiche copy, shows a blade with several pairs of remote pinnae; a rhizome is lacking; this sheet bears the name salicifolium in the hand of Linnaeus, but there are no indications of the locality or collector; this specimen belongs to the common eastern United States Narrow-leaved Spleenwort, Athyrium pycnocarpon(Sprengel) Tidestrom. The second sheet, 1250 (11), also bears the name salicifolium in the hand of Linnaeus, and again there are no other data; this specimen is the West Indian (especially Jamaican) Diplazium grandifolium Swartz.

    The original description by Linnaeus is as follows: “ASPLENIUM fronde pinnata: pinnis falcato-lanceolatis crenatis: basi sur-sum angulatis. “Lonchitis glabra major. Plum. amer. 18, t. 27. fil. t. 60. Raj. Suppl. 61. “Lonchitis striata. Pet. fil. 110. t. 3, f. 2. “Lonchitis major, pinnulis latioribus leviter denticulatis: superiore latere auriculatis. Sloan, jam. 16. hist. 1. p. 78. “Habitat in Antillis.

    Neither of the species mentioned above, Athyrium pycnocarpon and Diplazium grandifolium, agrees with the definition, for they do not have crenate, falcate-lanceolate pinnae, angled at the upper base. Thus they are not types, and can be disregarded, fortunately, for it would indeed be too bad to have either of these well-known names displaced. The identification must therefore be based on the literature references. Plunder s plate 60 agrees entirely with Linnaeus’ definition, and this plate may be indicated as lectotype. This maintains the usual current application of the name (e.g., as in Maxon, Pteridophyta of Porto Rico). Mettenius used it in a different sense, for the species now known as A. juglandi-folium Lam., a usage now to be rejected.