Pecluma dulcis

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

Pecluma dulcis (Poir. in Lam.) F.C.Assis & Salino, Phytotaxa 247(4): 242. 2016 (as P. dulce ).

= Polypodium dulce Poir. , in Lam., Encycl. 5: 523. 1804.

= Polypodium sororium Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Sp. Pl. , ed. 4 [Willdenow], 5: 191. 1810.

Range: —Antilles; Mexico to the Guianas and Bolivia (BE, CO, LP).

Ecology: —Fairly common; terrestrial and saxicolous, rarely epiphytic, in humid forests; often near streams; 700–1600(2850) m.

Notes: —May be confused with Serpocaulon funckii , which may also have free veins, but that species has much thinner rhizomes with sparse, small scales. From molecular analyses ( Schneider et al. 2004, Otto et al. 2009, Assis et al. 2016), P. dulcis , and several related species in Mexico and Mesoamerica, are more closely related to Pecluma than to true Polypodium .

Pecluma eurybasis (C.Chr.) M.G.Price, Amer. Fern J. 73(3): 115. 1983, var. glabrescens (Rosenst.) Lellinger, Amer. Fern. J. 74(2): 59. 1984.

= Polypodium lachniferum Hieron. var. glabrescens Rosenst., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 11: 57. 1912.

= Polypodium lachniferum Hieron. var. glabrescens Rosenst. f. incurvatum Rosenst., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 11: 57. 1912.

= Polypodium eurybasis C.Chr. var. glabrescens (Rosenst.) A.M.Evans, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 55: 244. 1969.

Range: — Costa Rica; Venezuela to Bolivia (CO, LP).

Ecology: —Common; terrestrial, less commonly epiphytic or on rocks, in humid forests and along streams; 1800– 3300 m.

Notes: —Some specimens are intermediate towards P. divaricata , which has the lowermost pinnae usually>1/2 the length of the longest pinnae and generally larger fronds, and distinctions between these two taxa are unclear. Pecluma eurybasis is usually divided into three varieties; two of these occur in Bolivia, and the other is restricted to the Caribbean region and Venezuela; however, this separation needs re-examination.

Pecluma eurybasis (C.Chr.) M.G.Price, Amer. Fern J. 73(3): 114. 1983, var. villosa (A.M.Evans) Lellinger, Amer. Fern J. 74(2): 59. 1984.

= Polypodium eurybasis C.Chr. var. villosa A.M.Evans, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 55: 245. 1969.

Range: — Panama; Venezuela to Bolivia (CO, LP, SC).

Ecology: —Common; epiphytic, less commonly terrestrial, rarely on rocks, in humid forests; to 1700–3000 m.

Notes: —Differs from var. glabrescens by a dense cover of hairs 0.2–0.5 mm long on rachises (vs. glabrous to sparsely hairy, hairs 0.2–0.3 mm long) and entire (vs. inconspicuously fimbriate) rhizome scales. The pinna margins are usually more crenulate than in var. glabrescens .