Pteris biaurita L.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pteris biaurita L.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizome erect, woody, closely invested with stipe bases and densely clothed at apex with small deltate-ovate scales 1.5-3 mm long, these bicolorous with glossy black, deltate-attenuate midrib and broad, pale, delicately clathrate, lacerate-ciliate margins. Fronds densely clustered, suberect, 0,6-1.5 m long; stipes stout (to 5 mm diam. or more), straw-colored, grooved adaxially, naked except for a few bicolorous scales at extreme base. Blades oblong or deltate-oblong, up to 40 cm broad, 1-pinnate-pinnatisect, the basal pinnae forked; rhachis glabrate and naked except for minute glandular papillae in the adaxial groove at axils of pinnae; pinnae 5-15 pairs, opposite, sessile or nearly so, all but the basal 2-partite ones narrowly oblong-lanceolate to lance-attenuate, broader on the basiscopic side; segments mostly 15-22 pairs, narrowly oblong to linear, 1-3 cm long, 3-5 mm wide at the middle, joined by a costal wing 2-3 mm broad on either side, the fertile ones separated by rounded sinuses; veins prominulous, the basal ones joined by a nanow costal arc with several excunent simple branches, the others free, usually onceforked; tissue thin-herbaceous, light green, somewhat translucent, Indusium pale, 0.3-0.5 mm wide, with entire margin.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 49.

    Lectotype. Plumier, Descr. pl. Amer., t. 14 (=Traite foug. Amer., t. 15), which illustrates a plant from an unspecified locality, either Hispaniola or Martinique.

    Syn. Campteria biaurita (Linnaeus) Hooker, Gen. fil., t. 65-A. 1841.

    Litobrochia biaurita (Linnaeus) J. Smith, Cat. Cult. Ferns 37. 1857.

    Pteris biaurita var. subpinnatifida Jenman, Bull, Bot. Dept. Jamaica no, 41: 7, 1893; Fems Brit, W. Ind, 123, 1900, (Type, Jenman, from Jamaica, not seen.)

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Pantropical. Distribution in Puerto Rico. Probably occurs rather widely, but not often collected; recorded only from Las Marias, Maricao, and Penuelas. Virgin Islands. St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. Habitat. Moist shaded banks, thickets, hollows, and ravines at low to middle elevations (65-470 m), rare to locally frequent.

    Puerto Rico South America| Las Marías Puerto Rico South America| Peñuelas Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Jamaica South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America|