Tectaria trifoliata (L.) Cav.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Tectariaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Tectaria trifoliata (L.) Cav.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizome woody, decumbent to suberect, 10-16 mm thick (excluding stipe-bases), clothed at apex with a dense tuft of rigid, dark brown, narrowly lance-attenuate scales up to 8 mm long, these with margins minutely glandular and also sparsely and minutely denticulate-ciliolate. Fronds variable in size, up to 1.5 m long but usually smaller; stipes longer than to about equalling the blades, purple-brown at base, naked except for a few scattered scales near base. Smaller blades chiefly 20-40 cm long, 15-30 cm broad, temately lobed with a deeply cordate base, or pinnately 3-foliate, the basal pinnae inequilateral, elongate-deltate, acuminate-falcate, and usually with a blunt to acuminate basiscopic basal lobe; larger blades chiefly 40-70 cm long, 25-55 cm broad, with 1-2(-4) pairs of lateral pinnae; basal pinnae long-stalked and sometimes pinnately parted at base; terminal pinna broadly ovate to subhastate, 10-25 cm broad; tissue papery, glabrous; venation complexly reticulate, the areoles mostly with included free veinlets. Sori numerous, relatively small, irregular in shape, varying from round to lunate or elongate (up to 4 mm long, 0.5 mm broad).

  • Discussion

    Basionym. Polypodium trifoliatum Linnaeus, Sp. pl. 2: 1087. 1753, excl. ref. Sloane.

    Lectotype. Plumier, Traite foug. Amer., /. 148 (=Descr. pl. Amer., t. 32), representing a plant from Martinique.

    Syn. Aspidium trifoliatum (Linnaeus) Swartz, J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 30. 1802.

    Aspidium plumieri K. Presl, Reliq. haenk. 1: 29. 1825. (Lectotype chosen here). Plumier, Traite foug. Amer., /. 146, based on material from Haiti.)

    Aspidium parallelum Desvaux, Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 245. 1827. (Type from "Amer. calidiore," not seen.)

    Bathmium trifoliatum (Linnaeus) Link, Fil. spec. 114. 1841.

    Cardiochlaena trilobata Fee, Mem. foug. 5: 316. 1852. (Type from French Antilles, not seen.)

    Aspidium trifoliatum var. amplum Hooker, Sp. fil. 4: 45. 1862. (Type from St. Vincent, not seen.)

    Nephrodium sherringiae Jenman, J. Bot. 25: 99. 1887. (Type from Trinidad, not seen.)

    Nephrodium domingense Baker, Ann. Bot. (London) 5: 329. 1891. (Type from Dominica, not "St. Domingo," not seen.)

    Aspidium purdiaei Jenman, Gard. Chron. ser. 3, 22: 282. 1897. (Type from Trinidad, not seen.)

    Aspidium domingense (Baker) C. Christensen, Index filic. 72. 1905.

    Aspidium psammiosorum C. Christensen, Index filic. 89. 1905. (A superfluous renaming of Nephrodium sherringiae Jenman 1887, not N. sherringii penman, 1879.)

    Tectaria plumieri (K. Presl) Copeland, Philipp. J. Sci. 2:410. 1907.

    Tectaria trifoliata f. megasora Domin, Pter. Dominica 229. 1929, nomen subnudum.

    Tectaria trifoliata var. menispermifolia Domin, Pter. Dominica 230. 1929. (Type from Dominica, not seen.)

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Greater Antilles except Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, Tobago, Trinidad, and northem South America.

    West Indies| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America|