Polypodium arcanum Maxon

  • Authority

    Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

  • Family

    Polypodiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Polypodium arcanum Maxon

  • 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 - Rhizome creeping, 4-7 mm diam.; rhizome scales white (to reddish-brown) with reddish-brown bases, deltate, with long-attenuate tip, 45 mm long, 1.5 mm wide; fronds (7-) 15-40 cm long, distant; stipe 1/3-½ the frond length, stramineous to brown, glabrous; rachis glabrous except for rare long hairs (0.8-1.0 mm) and rare, clavate brown hairs (0.1-0.3 mm), mostly in the axils of the pinnae; blade pinnatisect, oblong to oblong-deltate, 6-18 cm broad; pinnae 3-13 pairs, linear-deltate, equally dilated at base, 3-9 cm long, 8-18 mm wide, acuminate, glabrous; margin serrulate to serrulate-crenulate; veins netted, with one row of areoles; sori round, medial, one row on each side of costa; sporangia glabrous.

  • Discussion

    Type. Mexico. Puebla: Chinautla, Liebmann [Pl. Mex. 2598, FI. Mex. 155, 156]) (C!; isotypes GH!, K!). Polypodium arcanum is similar to P. eatonii, which has not been found in Oaxaca although it occurs in Chiapas and Veracruz (see “Species to be looked for”). The smaller scales, toothed pinna margins, narrower pinnae and lack of cordate-clasping base on the basal pinnae will distinguish P. arcanum.

  • Distribution

    Epiphytic in pine-oak forests; Centro, Etla, Ixtlán, Sola de Vega, Teotitlán, Tlacolula; 1750-2550 m. Mexico (Jal, Hgo, Pue, Ver, Oax).

    Mexico North America|