Lindsaea lancea (L.) Bedd.

  • Authority

    Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.

  • Family

    Lindsaeaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lindsaea lancea (L.) Bedd.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizome short-creeping, knotted, 2-3 mm in diam., clothed with narrowly lanceolate, longacuminate scales up to 2 mm long and 0.2 mm broad. Fronds close, erect to spreading, mostly 35-80 cm long; stipes shorter than or equalling the blades, dark brown at base, lighter distally (or purple-brown in a groove throughout), rather sharply angular with ffat surfaces or somewhat grooved distally. Blades variable, usually 2-pinnate (or 1-pinnate when juvenile or in var. falcata, the latter not recorded from Puerto Rico), up to 50 cm long, 20-35 cm broad; rhachis quadrangular, deeply grooved on both sides; pinnae mostly 2-4 pairs and a similar terminal one, linear- acuminate, 17-25 cm long, ascending or spreading; pinnules 12-25 pairs, subtrapezoidal, 1.5-2 cm long, 6-11 mm broad, with straight to concave basiscopic margin, the acroscopic margin proximally straight and distally broadly rounded; distal margin crenulate when sterile, entire when fertile; veins evident, mostly 2-forked, Sori submarginal, continuous or nearly so; indusium very nanow, much less than width of opposed margin.

    Distribution and Ecology - General Distribution. Greater and Lesser Antilles, Tobago, Trinidad, and continental tropical America from Mexico to Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Known from widely scattered localities, but most frequent in the Siena de Luquillo; recorded from Cidra, Fajardo, Maricao, Rio Grande, and San Juan. Habitat. In shaded heavy clay soils in moist forest at low to middle elevations (20-600 m), locally common.

  • Discussion

    Basionym. Adiantum lancea Linnaeus, Sp. pl. ed. 2,2: 1557. 1763.

    Type. Seba, Thes., t. 64, figs. 7, 8, based on material from Suriname.

    Syn. Lindsaea trapeziformis Dryander, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 3: 43, t. 9. 1797. (Type from Grenada, not seen.)

    Lindsaea falcata var. lancea (Linnaeus) Jenman, Fems Brit. W . Ind. 74. 1899.