Diagnostic description ⁴

Dicranopteris pectinata (Willd.) Underw., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 260. 1907.

Fig. 8. F-G

Basionym: Mertensia pectinata Willd.

Terrestrial fern. Rhizomes creeping, scabrous, light brown, with deciduous articulate hairs. Fronds clambering or decumbent, 1-2 m long, forming a dense thicket difficult to penetrate; pinnae unequally bifurcate, with a tuft of rigid, reddish trichomes in the area of bifurcation, but without accessory pinnae or these only in the primary bifurcations; axes cylindrical and brittle, primary rachis proleptic, with sympodial growth, tertiary rachis with two narrow longitudinal keels; leaf segments oblong-deltoid, the secondary venation 3-5 times bifurcate, the apex retuse, the margins revolute; lower surface glaucous, glabrous, or sometimes stellate-pubescent. Sori yellowish, 0.5-0.7 mm in diameter.

Phenology: Probably found in fertile condition throughout the year.

Status: Native, very common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 7120; 9333; 9372; Britton, N.L. 584; Cowgill 630; Cowles, H.T. 398; Goll, G.P. 438; 938; Proctor, G.R. 39503; 41133; Sintenis, P. 1768; Underwood, L.M. 266.

Distribution ⁵

Distribution: Widely distributed in moist disturbed areas at various elevations. Of wide distribution in the Neotropics.

Public forests: Carite, El Yunque, Maricao, and Río Abajo.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Reinaldo Aguilar, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3671/9622852313_994064e49c_o.jpg
2. (c) Reinaldo Aguilar, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/9626089900_23c287020c_o.jpg
3. (c) Dick Culbert, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2875/11309927936_cb026ed63c_o.jpg
4. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435035
5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435635

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• World Flora Online

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