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• Taxonomy
• Physical Description
• Distribution
• Reproduction
• Growth
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Overview:

Fern from Florida to Argentina, with scattered, erect, once pinnate or pinnately incised leaves to four feet long and 2 feet wide, arising from conspicuously brown-scaly horizontal stems at the soil surface or epiphytic on other plants. The spore cases (sporangia) are in circular clusters (sori) arranged in irregular rows on the lower surface of leaf segments.

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms:

1. Phlebodium areolatum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Baker
2. Polypodium aureum var. areolatum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Baker
3. Polypodium pseudoaureum Cav.

Notes:

Publishing author: L.

Name Status: Accepted Name. Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication: J. Bot. (Hooker) 4:59. 1841

Name verified on 01-Sep-1998 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 01-Sep-1998

Physical Description

Family Polypodiaceae:

Plants perennial, terrestrial, on rock, or often epiphytic, erect, arching, or occasionally pendent. Stems long- to short-creeping, branched or not, bearing scales and few to numerous roots, usually dictyostelic. Leaves monomorphic to dimorphic, circinate in bud. Petiole usually articulate at base [rarely nonarticulate, as in Loxogramme ], lacking scales or sometimes scaly, with usually 3 vascular bundles. Blade simple to often pinnatifid, pinnatisect, or pinnate, infrequently more divided; rachis grooved or not adaxially. Veins free (and simple to several times forked) to often anastomosing in complex systems, areoles with or without included veinlets. Indument on blade absent, or petiole, rachis, costae, and sometimes blade tissue usually bearing hairs (these often septate and with reddish crosswalls) and/or scales. Sori borne abaxially on veins, round to oblong, occasionally elongate, rarely marginal, rarely covering surface; paraphyses present or absent; sporangia with stalk of 2 or 3 rows of cells; indusia absent. Spores usually transparent or yellowish (rarely greenish), all 1 kind, bilateral, monolete [rarely trilete, as in some Loxogramme], surface most often smooth, tuberculate, verrucose, or granulate, occasionally spiny, 64 per sporangium (spores globose and 32 per sporangium in apogamous spp.) . Gametophytes green, aboveground, cordate or elliptic, glabrous or sometimes glandular; archegonia and antheridia borne on lower surface, antheridia 3-celled.

Genera ca. 40, species perhaps 500 (7 genera, 25 species in the flora) : worldwide, especially tropics and subtropics.

Genera in this family are variously circumscribed, and the New World species historically were placed in the single genus Polypodium . Many of the segregates recognized here are still placed in Polypodium in recent floristic accounts. Limits of genera in both Old World and New World are controversial and are currently under study by several workers.^[1]

Genus Phlebodium:

Plants epiphytic. Stems creeping, branched, not whitish pruinose, 8--30 mm diam.; scales concolored, lanceolate, not clathrate, glabrous, margins dentate. Leaves monomorphic, widely spaced, not conspicuously narrowed at tip, to 130 cm. Petiole articulate to stem, dark brown, round in cross section, with 2 adaxial grooves. Blade ovate to elliptic, not pectinate, pinnatisect with broadly winged rachises and rounded sinuses, with fewer than 20 pairs of segments, glaucous, usually glabrous, scales absent; rachis glabrous. Segments linear to lanceolate, margins entire, apex rounded. Veins free near margins, well developed near costae, highly reticulate, usually with 1 row of costal areoles extending from vein to vein without included veinlets, and with a series of elongate, polygonal areoles with 1--3 excurrent included veinlets meeting at apices, and similar areoles closer to margin of segment mostly without included veinlets. Sori on veins, transverse, 2 in each major areole on included veinlets, circular to oblong; indument absent. Spores tuberculate. x = 37.

Species 2--4: tropical regions, North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America.^[2]

Habit: Evergreen.

Flowers: Bloom Period: n/a • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Images:

Distribution

Range and Population

Adde loc. Ins. Hawaii. Caribbean

Native: Florida.

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Similar Species

Members of the genus Phlebodium:

There are approximately 32 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus: P. angustum · P. araneosum · P. astrolepis · P. aureum (Cabbage Palm Fern) · P. aureum (L.) J.Sm. 'Glaucum' · P. aureum (L.) J.Sm. 'Mandaianum' · P. aureum var. araneosum · P. aureum var. areolatum · P. aureum var. pulvinatum · P. aureum var. trilobatum · P. decumanum (Creeping Golden Polypody) · P. elegans · P. ensiforme · P. erythrolepis · P. fulvum · P. grande · P. inaequale · P. lanceolatum var. crassinervatum · P. lanceolatum var. trichophorum · P. latum · P. mayii · P. microdictyum · P. multiseriale · P. nigripes · P. nitidum · P. percussum · P. polylepis · P. pseudoaureum (False Golden Polypody) · P. pulvinatum · P. serpens · P. squamulosum · P. venosum

Bibliography

• Boggan, J. et al. 1997. Checklist of the plants of the Guianas, ed. 2. (L Guianas ed2)
• Breedlove, D. E., ed. 1981–. Flora of Chiapas. (F Chiapas)
• Duncan, W. H. 1954. Polypodium aureum in Florida and Georgia. Amer. Fern J. 44: 155--158.
• FNA Editorial Committee. 1993–. Flora of North America. (F NAmer) [accepts].
• Howard, R. 1974–1989. Flora of the lesser Antilles. (F LAnt) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. (Dict Gard)
• Lellinger, D. B. 1987. Nomenclatural notes on some ferns of Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. III. Amer. Fern J. 77: 101--102.
• McGuffin, M. et al., eds. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. (Herbs Commerce ed2)
• Proctor, G. R. 1985. Ferns of Jamaica. A guide to the pteridophytes. (Ferns Jam) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Proctor, G. R. 1985. Ferns of Jamaica. London.
• Proctor, G. R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53:1-389. (Ferns PR VirgI) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Snyder, L. H. Jr. and J. G. Bruce. 1986. Field Guide to the Ferns and Other Pteridophytes of Georgia. Athens, Ga.
• Steyermark, J. A. et al., eds. 1995–. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. (F VenGuay) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Stolze, R. G. et al. 1976. Ferns and fern allies of Guatemala. Fieldiana, Bot. 39:1-130., n.s., 6:1-522. 1981 (Ferns Guat) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Tryon, R. M. & R. G. Stolze. 1989–. Pteridophyta of Peru. Parts I-. Fieldiana, Botany new ser. (Ferns Peru) [= Polypodium aureum L.].
• Walters, S. M. et al., eds. 1986–. European garden flora. (Eur Gard F)

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Notes

Contributors:

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed November 27, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 7 providers.
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (April 30, 2008)

Data Sources:

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 22, 2007:

• GBIF-Spain, CUBA: Herbario de la Academia de Ciencias, La Habana, Cuba: HAC-Pteridophyta
• GBIF-Spain, CUBA:Herbario del Jardín Botánico Nacional, La Habana, Cuba: HAJB-Pteridophyta
• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• National Herbarium of New South Wales, NSW herbarium collection
• SysTax, Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• SysTax, SysTax
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database
• University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics, Herbarium

Identifiers:

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 17656
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13728865
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:101898-3
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PPPOL05010
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: PHAU6
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 53502

Footnotes:

1. Alan R. Smith "Polypodiaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
2. Clifton E. Nauman "Phlebodium". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.