Description
Family Blechnaceae
Plants
perennial
, mostly terrestrial
, occasionally on rock or epiphytic. Stems creeping
to suberect or ascending
, sometimes climbing
[rarely arborescent
], slender to stout, dictyostelic, scaly
. Leaves monomorphic
or dimorphic
, large and coarse
, generally greater than 30 cm, often exceeding 1 m.
Petiole
not articulate
, generally more than 2 vascular bundles
arranged in arc, generally scaly at least at base
. Blade
often anthocyanic
(reddish) when young, pinnatifid
[rarely simple
] to pinnate-pinnatifid or 2-pinnate [rarely decompound
], glabrous
or occasionally bearing scales
or capitate glands
. Rachis frequently grooved
adaxially. Veins of sterile
leaves generally free
, rarely anastomosing, veins of fertile
leaves united
to form sorus-bearing secondary vein
parallel to costa or costule
(vascular
commisure), sometimes anastomosing further. Sori elongate
along secondary vein; indusia present [rarely absent], opening along costal side of fertile vein, frequently hidden by dehisced sporangia; sporangial
stalk
of 3 rows
of cells
. Spores monolete, reniform
; perine
present, variously ornamented. Gametophytes green, cordate, sometimes bearing capitate hairs, antheridia and archegonia borne on lower surface.
Genera ca.
10, species ca. 250 (2 genera, 6 species in the flora
) : mostly tropical
and south temperate
(except Woodwardia, which is north temperate) .
Circumscription of genera is controversial, especially as to placement of those species now included
in Blechnum . Characteristics holding the family
together include the anastomoses
of veins along the axes of the blade to form a series of areoles or a single continuous vein along which the sorus is borne, elongate sori with indusia opening toward midvein
, bilateral
spores, and chromosome base numbers
of generally x
= 28--36. Relationships
of the family with both dryopteroid and athyrioid ferns have been suggested.[1]
Habitat
Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[2]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Moniliformopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997, Nom. Nud.
- Class:
Filicopsida
()
- Cronquist Et Al.
- Order:
Filicales
()
- Link
- Family:
Blechnaceae
()
- (C. Presl, 1851) Copeland, 1947
- Chain Fern Family
- Genus:
Salpichlaena
()
- Specific epithet:
volubilis
- J.Sm.in Hk.
- Botanical name: - Salpichlaena volubilis J.Sm.in Hk.
- Specific epithet:
volubilis
- J.Sm.in Hk.
- Genus:
Salpichlaena
(
- Family:
Blechnaceae
(
- Order:
Filicales
(
- Class:
Filicopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Moniliformopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Unambiguous Synonyms
- Salpichlaena volubilis (Kaulf.) Hook.
Notes
Publishing author : J.Sm.in Hk. Publication : Gen. t. 93. 1841 1841
Similar Species
Members of the genus Salpichlaena
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 10 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
S. hookeriana · S. lomarioide · S. lomarioidea · S. orientalis · S. scandens · S. serrata · S. serrulata · S. thalassica · S. volubilis · S. voluvilis
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Anales de la Sociedad Cientfica Argentina. Buenos Aires. SPA url p. 203.
- Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1951-1992. ENG url p. 142, p. 239, p. 240.
- Bulletin of the Natural History Museum. Andover: Intercept. ENG url p. 84.
Notes
Contributors
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 27, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 7 providers.
- The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Jan 19, 2007.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 27, 2008:
- Australian National Herbarium (CANB)
- Botanical Research Institute of Texas: Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
- GBIF-Spain: Real Jardin Botanico (Madrid), Vascular Plant Herbarium (MA)
- Herbarium of the University of Aarhus: The AAU Herbarium Database
- Herbier de la Guyane
- Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica): Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- National Herbarium of New South Wales: NSW herbarium collection
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3417839
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:17219740-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 17219740
- MoBot NameID: 26609627
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 890584
Footnotes
- Raymond B. Cranfill "Blechnaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Mean = 613.960 meters (2,014.304 feet), Standard Deviation = 917.370 based on 242 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
