Polybotrya

Authority

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

Family

Dryopteridaceae

Scientific Name

Polybotrya

Discussion

Type Species. Polybotrya osmundacea Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow, of wide distribution in tropical America.

A neotropical genus of about 40 species, of which only one has been found in Puerto Rico. This is sometimes separated in a genus Olfersia on the basis of its 1 -pinnate blades, parallel venation, and diflerences in rhizome anatomy. It is also alleged to be terrestrial, not scandent, but this is often not true (see photograph in Tryon & Tryon, 1982: 537). The generic name is derived from the Greek po/y, many + botrys, bunch or cluster, referring to the clustering of the sporangia on the spurlike fertile segments.

Special Literature. Tryon, R. M. & A. F. Tryon. 1982. Fems and allied plants, pp. 536-542, 30 figs. Moran, R. C. 1987. Monograph ofthe Neotropical fem genus Polybotrya (Dryopteridaceae). Illinois Nat. Hist. Surv. Bull. 34: 1-138. (See note, p. 280.)