Cyathea planadae, a Remarkable New Creeping Tree Fern from Colombia, South America
1998; American Fern Society; Volume: 88; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1547224
ISSN1938-422X
AutoresNan Crystal Arens, Alan Р. Smith,
Tópico(s)Plant and animal studies
ResumoA new species within the Cyathaceae is described from the mid-elevation cloud for- ests of the Andes in southwestern Colombia. Cyathea planadae N.C. Arens & A.R. Smith has fragile, ephemeral, sphaeropteroid indusia surrounding inframedial to medial sori, which are typ- ical of many Cyathea; however it is unusual in possessing a creeping stem. Decumbent stems (above-ground rhizomes) bearing adventitious roots and buds give rise to narrow, glabrous upright shoots upon which three or four twice-pinnate-pinnatified fronds are typically displayed. Cyathea planadae is very common and patchily distributed in the understory of primary forest habitats in montane forests. The species is also noteworthy for an apparent association with an ant species, which appears to feed from pads of tissue at the base of the pinnae. Tree ferns of the family Cyatheaceae are a common, abundant, and ecolog- ically important part of the flora of montane and premontane wet forests in the Andes of Colombia. Taxonomic note of this group was first made in the mid eighteenth century with initial floristic surveys of the Andes by Spanish botanists such as Jose Celestino Mutis (Diaz-Piedrahita, 1991). A taxonomic revision of Cyathea and related genera in the Andes was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s by Rolla Tryon and his students. Recent and ongoing studies
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