Thelypteris balbisii (Spreng.) Ching

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Thelypteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Thelypteris balbisii (Spreng.) Ching

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizome erect; fronds 50 to often 100 cm or more long, to 40 cm wide, with up to ten pairs of gradually to subabruptly reduced pinnae at the base; stipe stramineous to tan, sometimes mucilaginous when young, mostly 3-7 mm diam.; rachis glabrous or with unicellular or septate hairs to 1.5 mm long; largest pinnae (4-) 10-16(-22) cm long, 1.5-3.0 cm wide, deeply incised to within 1 mm of costae, usually opposite, horizontal, most pinnae with basal segments somewhat elongate; pinnae below with a peg-like aerophore at the base; segments perpendicular or nearly so to costa, linear, 2-3 mm wide, rather closely placed; veins to 18 pairs per segment; costae and costules sparsely to densely hairy (occasionally glabrous) below, hairs (if present) unicellular or often septate; leaf tissue below often with numerous orangish to reddish sessile hemispherical glands; sori medial to submarginal; indusium thin, persistent, tan, often glandulose.

  • Discussion

    Polypodium balbisii Sprengel, Nov. Actorum Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. German. Nat. Cur. 10:228. 1821. Aspidium sprengelii Kaulfuss, Flora 6: 365. 1823, nom. superfl. (see Morton, Amer. Fem J. 53: 62. 1963). Dryopteris sprengelii (Kaulfuss) O. Kuntze, Revis. gen. pi. 2: 813. 1891. Dryopteris balbisii (Sprengel) Urban, Symb. antill. 4: 14. 1903. Thelypteris sprengelii (Kaulfuss) Proctor, Bull. Inst. Jamaica. Sci. Ser. 5: 65. 1953. Neotype (chosen by Proctor, Fl. L. Antill. 2: 281. 1977). Dominica. Hodge & Hodge 1203 (GH). Complete synonymy cited in A. R. Smith (1983). This species is closely related to T. resinifera, and it would not be surprising to find the two growing together and hybridizing. Two collections vary in the direction of T. resinifera: Mickel 1301 and Hallberg 1319. Usually, T. balbisii can be distinguished by the presence of at least a few long, septate hairs on the costae below, by the more spreading and longer segments, by its larger size, by the lack of hairs on the indusia, and by the more remote and fewer reduced lower pinnae. See T. struthiopteroides for additional comments.

  • Distribution

    In wet woods, especially along stream banks and roadsides; Ixtlán, Juchitán, Pochutla, Tuxtepec; 100-900 m. Mexico (Ver, Oax, Chis, Tab); Guat to Pan; WI, Trin; Ven, Col, Ec.

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