Pleopeltis burchellii (Baker) Hickey & Sprunt ex A.R.Sm., 2018

Smith, Alan R., Kessler, Michael, León, Blanca, Almeida, Thaís Elias, Jiménez-Pérez, Iván & Lehnert, Marcus, 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XL. Polypodiaceae, Phytotaxa 354 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.354.1.1
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B6DA7F-7B7B-190B-E9AD-0192FDCCF914
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Pleopeltis burchellii (Baker) Hickey & Sprunt ex A.R.Sm.
status	comb. nov.

Treatment

Pleopeltis burchellii (Baker) Hickey & Sprunt ex A.R.Sm. View in CoL , comb. nov.

Basionym: Polypodium incanum Sw. var. burchellii Baker, Fl. Bras. (Martius) View in CoL 1(2): 526. 1870.

= Pleopeltis polypodioides View in CoL (L.) E.G.Andrews & Windham var. burchellii (Baker) A.R.Sm., Candollea View in CoL 60(1): 281. 2005.

= Polypodium polypodioides View in CoL (L.) Watt var. burchellii (Baker) Weath., Contr. Gray Herb. View in CoL 124: 29. 1939.

Range: —Guayanan Highlands; Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia (BE, CH, CO, LP, PA, SC); southeastern Brazil.

Ecology: —Very common; epiphytic and less commonly saxicolous in semihumid to humid forests, often low on tree trunks and on fallen trees, 15–1300(2100) m. Poikilohydric, can loose up to 95% of its tissue water; when dry, turns the scaly lower side upwards and when wetted by rain or mist absorbs water through the scales that are directly connected to the inner leaf tissue.

Notes: —Closely related species, Pleopeltis polypodioides and P. acicularis (Weath.) comb. ined. [= Pleopeltis polypodioides var. acicularis (Weath.) E.G.Andrews & Windham ], and P. michauxiana (Weath.) Hickey & Sprunt occur in northern South America, and Mexico to Panama, the Antilles, and southeastern U.S.A. ( Vincent & Hickey 2014). Weatherby (1939) treated species of this group as varieties of Polypodium polypodioides . Hickey and Sprunt have annotated specimens of Pleopeltis burchellii in herbaria (e.g., UC), but never published the name. Their evidence, however, is convincing that this entity deserves species rank, along with other varieties recognized by Weatherby and many other authors ( Sprunt et al. 2011).