Adiantum lunulatum Burm.f.

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Smith, Alan R. 2004. The pteridophytes of Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 88: 1-1054.

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Adiantum lunulatum Burm.f.

  • Description

    Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /home/emu/nybgweb/www-dev/htdocs/science-dev/wp-content/themes/nybgscience/lib/VHMonographsDetails.php on line 179

    Species Description - Rhizomes short-creeping, 1–2 mm diam.; rhizome scales brown, often with dark brown to black central streak, lustrous, 3–4 x 0.3–0.5 mm, margins entire; fronds clumped, 15–45(–60) cm long, arching to pendent; stipes castaneous, lustrous, 8–15 cm x 0.7–1.5 mm, 1/5–2/5 the frond length, glabrous except at bases; blades linear, 1-pinnate, often ending in flagelliform tips and eventually rooting; rachises castaneous to atropurpureous, glabrous; ultimate divisions (pinnae) 10–16 pairs, with subconform terminal pinna, alternate, largest pinnae at blade bases, 2–4 x 1–2 cm, stalked to 2(–4) cm, gradually reduced at blade tips, basiscopic margins straight to concave, outer margins subentire to incised-lobate, sometimes deeply so, lobes rounded, distal segments broadly cuneate proximally, terminal segments (if any) flabellate, color ending at pinna bases, not usually articulate; veins free, forking, ending at the +/- entire margins; indument absent on both sides of blades; idioblasts absent; sori 4–10 per pinna, confined to acroscopic and distal pinna margins; indusia 2–4(–8) mm long, oblong to linear, glabrous; 2n =60, 90, 120 (India), apogamous forms known.

  • Discussion

    Type. India. Malabar Coast, s. coll. s.n. (G).

    This species often goes under the name A. philippense L. (Sp. Pl. 2: 1094. 1753), based on a Petiver illustration (Gazophylacii Naturae et Artis decas prima pol. 4, f. 4. 1702), but Verma (Nova Hedwigia 3: 463–468. 1961) argued that this plate is so poor that this name cannot be typified. For a different opinion, see Pichi Sermolli (Webbia 12: 665–669. 1957). Radicant blade apices are also seen in extraterritorial specimens of A. deflectens, which differs in its sharply denticulate pinna margins and shorter pinna stalks.

  • Distribution

    Terrestrial, on banks near streams, low elevations on Pacific slopes; pine-oak forests, deciduous and semideciduous tropical rain forests, tropical subdeciduous forests with Brosimum, seasonal evergreen forests; 50–1000 m. Mexico; Guat, Hond, Salv, Nic, CR, Pan; Cuba; Col, Ven; Africa, Madagascar, India, se Asia, Malesia, Polynesia.

    Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Honduras Central America| El Salvador Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Cuba South America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Africa| Madagascar Africa| India Asia| Asia| Oceania|