Pecluma divaricata (E.Fourn.) Mickel & Beitel

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Polypodiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pecluma divaricata (E.Fourn.) Mickel & Beitel

  • Description

    Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, 6-10 mm diam.; rhizome scales 1.5-2 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, dark reddish-brown, with blackish tip, narrowly deltate, comose, entire; fronds 35-135 cm long, distant to clumped; stipe 1/5-1/2 the frond length, reddish-brown, with scattered to dense acicular hairs (0.1-0.3 mm long), ctenoid hairs conspicuous; blade (10-) 15-27 cm wide, narrowly deltate, lower segments truncate, chartaceous to subcoriaceous; pinnae 4.5-14.5 cm long, 4-9 mm wide, obtuse to acute, straight to occasionally slightly deflexed, equal at base, entire, adaxial and lower laminar surfaces mostly glabrous, adaxial midrib with dense 0.1-0.3 mm long acicular hairs, margin with occasional 0.3-0.5 mm long acicular hairs, abaxial midrib with rare 0.3-0.5 mm acicular hairs and ctenoid hairs; veins free, 2-3forked; sori round, supramedial with few, clavate paraphyses (0.1-0.3 mm long); sporangia glabrous.

  • Discussion

    Polypodium divaricatum Fournier, Mexic. Pl. 1: 80. 1872. Type. Mexico. Veracruz: Zacuapán, Galeotti 6278 (P!; isotype BR!). Polypodium bolivianum Rosenstock, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 5: 236. 1908. Pecluma boliviana (Rosenstock) Price, Amer. Fern J. 73: 113. 1983. Type. Bolivia. South Yungas, Sirupaya nr. Yanacachi, Buchtien 421 (S; isotypes P, US!). Pecluma divaricata occurs in South America and north to Chiapas and Veracruz but has not been found in Oaxaca. This species is distinct in its brown stipe and the blade hardly reduced at the base. Evans (1968) did not mention Polypodium divaricatum in his monograph of this group although he annotated the BR isotype in 1965 as “Polypodium bolivianum?’

  • Distribution

    Epiphytic, occasionally epipetric or terrestrial at base of trees; 600-1600 m in Chiapas. Mexico (Ver, Chis); Guat to Pan; Ven & Col to Bol.

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