Adiantum tenerum Sw.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Pteridaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Adiantum tenerum Sw.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Terrestrial fern 18-50(82) cm tall. Rhizome short-creeping or ascending, 3-8 mm thick, densely clothed toward apex with triangular-acuminate or narrowly lance-acuminate scales, 1.5-3.0 mm long, these lustrous light to blackish brown with pale, fimbriate- ciliate margins. Fronds few, erect-spreading or sometimes pendent, 18-82 cm long; stipes lustrous dark purplish brown to black, shorter than or nearly equaling the blades, 7-35 cm long, cylindrical, glabrous. Blades triangular-ovate, subpentagonal, 12- 46 x 9-35 cm, 3- to 5-pinnate at base; pinnae alternate, stalked; ultimate pinnules trapezoid or rhombic-oblong, subpersistent, terminal ones fan- to wedge-shaped, the fertile ones mostly 1-2 cm long and broad, on slender stalks 2-4 mm long; sterile pinnules often larger than the fertile ones, more or less deeply lobed or cleft, with margins lightly to sharply dentate, the ultimate veinlets ending in the teeth; tissue light to dull green, firmly membranous, glabrous or rarely minutely puberulous abaxially. Sori retuseoblong, light brown, turgid, borne in pairs on each of the lightly bifid lobes of the fertile margins.

  • Discussion

    Adiantum littorale Jenman, Ferns Brit. W. Ind. 96. 1899. Adiantum tenerum var. littorale (Jenman) Domin, Rozpr. Krai. Ceske Spolecn. Nauk, Tf. Mat.-Pfir. n.s. 2: 141. 1929

  • Distribution

    A common fern of shaded rocky hillsides, banks, and cliffs. Fish Bay Gut (A2494). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; southern United States, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, Cayman Islands, Lesser Antilles, Central America, and northern South America.

    Central America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| West Indies| Cayman Islands South America| Bahamas South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|