Asplenium dentatum L.

  • Authority

    Morton, Conrad V. & Lellinger, David B. 1966. The Polypodiaceae subfamily Asplenioideae in Venezuela. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 15: 1-49.

  • Family

    Aspleniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Asplenium dentatum L.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizomes erect, terrestrial; blades numerous, dimorphic, the sterile forming a rosette, spreading or prostrate, short (3-12 cm long), very short-stipitate, the fertile central, erect, 10-25 cm long, long-stipitate, the stipes sometimes as long as the blades, green, fragile, strongly alate; fertile blades simply pinnate, linear, essentially imparipinnate, the terminal pinna blunt, subflabellate, obtuse, not proliferous, the lateral pinnae 6-13 pairs, horizontally spreading, oblong to trapeziform, not more than 15 mm long and 8 mm broad, rounded at apex, cuneate and unequal at base, subentire or lightly toothed, the teeth 3-5 pairs; veins mostly once-forked, sometimes simple; sori 2-4 (5) pairs.

    Distribution and Ecology - General and common in the West Indies; Yucatan south to Colombia and Venezuela (known only from the state of Monagas).

  • Discussion

    Asplenium trichomanes dentatum L. Sp. Pl. 1080. 1753. Name rejected universally as being confusing, not in binomial form, and probably due to an oversight on the part of Linnaeus.

    Asplenium pygmaeum L. Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 1323. 1759. Type: Jamaica, Browne (holotype Linnaean Herb., photograph US, isotype S, photograph US).

    Type. There is no specimen in the Linnaean Herbarium, and so the species has to be typified by the literature references. Plumier t. 101C (“Trichomanes lati-folium dentation") is to be chosen lectotype, since it provided Linnaeus with his specific epithet, and it gives a recognizable representation of the species to which the name A. dentation has been applied.

    This is a terrestrial species occurring on limestone bluffs at middle or low elevations below 1300m, generally growing under rather dry conditions. It is the only Venezuelan species showing dimorphic fronds, the basal leaves forming a small, spreading sterile rosette, the central leaves being larger, erect, and fertile.