Sticherus lanuginosus (Moric. ex Fée) Nakai (1950: 20)

Gonzales, Jasivia & Kessler, Michael, 2011, A synopsis of the Neotropical species of Sticherus (Gleicheniaceae), with descriptions of nine new species, Phytotaxa 31, pp. 1-54 : 32

Sticherus lanuginosus (Moric. ex Fée) Nakai (1950: 20)

Gleichenia lanuginosa Moric. ex Fée (1869: 202) . Gleichenia pennigera (Mart.) T.Moore var. lanuginosa (Moric. ex Fée) Moore (1862: 381).

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Blanchet & Claussen 88 (holotype not located, isotype US!).

Distribution and ecology:— Costa Rica, Hispaniola, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, eastern and central Brazil, and adjacent Paraguay. Often it is common in montane pastures and savannas, especially in burnt habitats; at 1000–1250 m on Hispaniola, 800–3000 m in the Andes, and 700–1650 m in Brazil and Paraguay.

Notes:— Sticherus lanuginosus is a common species that has long been known under the name of S. penniger , but examination of the holotype of S. penniger has convinced us that this specimen represents the same species as S. pruinosus . This confusion has probably arisen because pteridologists working on this species have usually seen only the photographs at US of the type collections of S. penniger . These photographs show plants of a habit roughly similar to S. lanuginosus , but they do not allow a study of the diagnostic scale characters, which show that the type of S. penniger belongs to S. pruinosus . To complicate things further, Sturm (1840) and Sehnem (1970) adopted the name Gleichenia pubescens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. for S. lanuginosus . However, G. pubescens is a synonym of S. bifidus , and has been misapplied.

Sticherus lanuginosus varies considerably in size, presumably in response to habitat. Specimens from dry and sunny sites (and also perhaps from nutrient-poor soils) are smaller, with more closely held branches, and have more coriaceous segments with more strongly revolute margins. In addition, there appears to be a geographical component to the size variation, with specimens from Venezuela and southeastern Brazil being, on average, somewhat larger than those from the central Andes. This may be partly due to hybridization with other species, e.g., with S. velatus in Brazil.