Elaphoglossum gramineum (Jenman) Urb.

  • Family

    Dryopteridaceae (Pteridophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Elaphoglossum gramineum (Jenman) Urb.

  • Primary Citation

    Symb. Antill. (Urban) 4: 60. 1902

  • Description

    by: A. Vasco, R.C. Moran, and G. Rouhan

    Type: Jamaica. 1876, G. S. Jenman 27 (holotype: K; isotype: NY)

    Description: Epiphytic or saxicolous. Rhizome 2-3 mm wide, short-creeping, glabrous, black, highly resinous. Sterile leaves 15-25 cm long, 1-4 mm apart; phyllopodia present, 0.2-0.9 cm long; petioles 1/4-1/2 the length of the sterile lamina, tan to brown; scales absent or reduced to resinous dots, rarely with a few minute (ca. 1 mm) dark scales toward the base; laminae 5-16(-20) x 0.6-1.5 cm, linear, papyraceous to chartaceous, the base narrowly cuneate, ending well above the phylopodia, the apex gradually tapered and narrowly acute or rarely short-acuminate; veins inconspicuous, 1 mm apart, at a angle of 65° with respect to the costa, the apices free; hydathodes absent; lamina scales reduced to resinous dots, these often on both surfaces but more pronounced on the abaxial side. Fertile leaves usually longer than the sterile; petioles 1/3-1/2 the length of the fertile leaf, tan to brown; laminae 0.4-0.8 cm wide, linear, glabrous, the base cuneate, the apex acute.

    Distribution: Honduras, Jamaica, Cuba and Dominican Republic; elevation 450-1100 m

    Comments: Elaphoglossum gramineum is the smallest species in the ciliatum-group. The sterile laminae are 0.6-1.5 cm wide, and long-tapered at both ends. The rhizomes are glabrous covered with a coating of resin, which tends to be thicker than in the other species with resinous rhizomes in the group. This species is very much like E. ciliatum but seems to be consistently distinct by its smaller size and the lack of scales remains around the resinous dots. The molecular analyses (Vasco et al submitted) recovered both species as two different clades that are not even sister to each other. So although not many morphological characters distinguish them, they are clearly two different entities.

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