Calciphilopteris ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) Yesilyurt & H.Schneider

Yesilyurt, Jovita C. & Schneider, Harald, 2010, The new fern genus Calciphilopteris (Pteridaceae), Phytotaxa 7, pp. 52-59 : 56

2. Calciphilopteris ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) Yesilyurt & H.Schneider , comb. nov. — Fig. 1A .

Basionym:— Pteris ludens Wallich (1828: 88) , nomen nudum, Pteris ludens Wall. ex. Hooker (1858: 210), Lithobrochia ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) Beddome (1865 : t. 27), Pellaea ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) Prantl (1882: 419) , Doryopteris ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) Smith (1875: 289) . Holotype: INDIA: Wallich 88 (K).

Rhizome predominantly long-creeping, scales up to 3 mm, dark brown, lanceolate, margin entire. Petiole terete to sulcate adaxially towards the base of the lamina, dark brown to atropurpureous, indumentum usually with hairs (whitish), non-clathrate scales and fibrils. Sterile and fertile fronds glabrescent to glabrous, indumentum on the abaxial side with fibrils and non-clathrate microscales. Sterile fronds up to 35 cm; lamina up to 20 cm, sagittate to pedate; ovate to pentagonal; pinnae/segments1–2(–3) pairs; hydathodes generally present (sometimes obscure). Fertile fronds up to 45 cm; lamina up to 25 cm, pentagonal to broad-cordate, pedate, pedate-pinnatifid (to pedate-2-pinnatifid); pinnae/segments in 2–4(–5) pairs; basal pinna/segment falcate, with 1(–2) acroscopic lobes and 2–3 basiscopic segments/lobes, which are ascendant, falcate to lanceolate, rarely the first basiscopic segment/lobe is divided; other pinnae/segments al equally ascendant, lanceolate to long-lanceolate. Indusium with margin entire to slightly eroded. Sporangium with pedicel 1–2(– 2½) × the capsule length; capsule with annulus with 17–34 indurated cells. Spores dark castaneous, cristate.

Distribution:— India, Indochina, southern China, western parts of Malesia ( Flores, Java, Malay Peninsula, Simbawa, Sumatra), Thailand, and Australia (where it was once recorded from north-eastern Queensland by D.L. Jones s.n. (BRI), see: Bostock 1998).

Note:—some specimens (Congdon 617, Molesworth-Allen 2785, E. Smith 250A, Kerr 250, 11365) show unique leaf and spore characters that are similar but not identical with characters observed in other species of Calciphilopteris . It was decided to assign these specimens here to C. ludens , because available collections are insufficient to make unequivocal taxonomic assignments. These specimens may represent either a unique form of C. ludens or an undiscovered species.

Selected specimens:— MALAYSIA: Perlis: Molesworth-Allen 2816 ( US, S). Kedah: Alphonso & Samsuri 123 (BM); Henderson 29066 (BM); Littke 260 (L). INDONESIA: Java: Horsfield s.n. 110 (BM); Mosset 188 (C, GH, L, PE). THAILAND: Geesink et al. 5949 (BM, L); Hennipman 3029 (BM, L, NY, U, US); Kerr 5476 (BM); Kostermanns 762 (L); Larsen 5790 (BM, GH); Rock 503 ( US); Shimizu et al. 13325 (C, L); Tagawa et al. 1903 (L, US);. MYANMAR: Dickason 7762 (GH); Kress et al. 97-6017 ( US); J. F. Smith 89 (GH). VIETNAM (Cochinchina): Larsen 8964 (GH); Pierre s.n. (GH). SINGAPORE: Corner & Henderson 22815 (C). CHINA: Yunan: Henry 13325 (MO, NY). INDIA: Assam: Mann s.n. (UC).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sketches of fertile leaves showing their general attributes and morphological variation: A. Calciphilopteris ludens. B. Calciphilopteris papuana. C. Calciphilopteris wallichii.