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Melpomene flabelliformis

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Name

Identification
Melpomene flabelliformis (Poir.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran [family GRAMMITIDACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Burrows, J.E.,
Related name
  • Melpomene caput-gorgonis
  • Melpomene paradoxa
  • Melpomene flabelliformis
  • Grammitis rigescens
  • Polypodium nigrescens

Flora

Entry for Melpomene flabelliformis (Poir.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran [family ]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (2005) Author: B. S. Parris
Names
Melpomene flabelliformis (Poir.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran [family ], in Novon 2(4): 430 (1992). Type: Réunion [Bourbon], Commerson in Jussieu 1098-C (P, lecto, chosen by Morton in Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 38: 57 (1967); US, photo.)
Polypodium flabelliforme Poir. [family POLYPODIACEAE], in Lam., Encycl. Meth. Bot. 5: 519 (1804)
Polypodium rigescens Willd. [family POLYPODIACEAE], Sp. Pl. ed. 4, 5: 183 (1810); Christensen in Dansk Bot.Arkiv 7: 154 (1932). Type: Réunion [Bourbon] (B-W, holo., photo!, P-JU, iso.)
Ctenopteris rigescens (Willd.) J. Sm. [family ], Hist. Fil., 184 (1875); Tardieu, Fl. Madag., Polypod. 2: 84, t. 20, fig. 1– 2 (1960); Tardieu, Fl. Cameroun 3: 327, t. 52, fig. 1– 3 (1964); Pic.Serm. in B.J.B.B. 53(1/2): 197 (1983)
Xiphopteris rigescens (Willd.) Alston [family GRAMMITIDACEAE], in Bol. Soc. Brot. ser. 2a, 30: 27 (1956) [err. ‘ nigrescens’ ]; Alston, Ferns W.T.A., ed. 2 Suppl.: 45 (1959); R.J. Johns, Pterid. Trop. E. Afr.: 48, 49 (1991)
Xiphopteris flabelliformis (Poir.) Schelpe [family GRAMMITIDACEAE], in Bol. Soc. Brot. ser. 2a, 41: 217 (1967) & in Contrib. Bolus Herb. 1: 10 (1969) & F.Z., Pterid.: 142, t. 44b (1970); Benl in Acta Bot. Barcinon. 33: 22 (1982); W. Jacobsen, Ferns Sthn Afr.: 298, fig. 214 (1983); Schelpe, F.S.A. Pteridophyta: 150, fig. 48, 3, 3a, 152 (1986); Iversen in Symb. Bot. Upsal. 29, 3: 156 (1991); R.J. Johns, Pterid. Trop. E. Afr.: 48, 49 (1991); Korna& #347; et al. in Zesz. Nank. Uniw. Jagiellon. Prace Bot. 25: 43 (1993); Schippers in Fern Gaz. 14(5): 192 (1993); Faden in U.K.W.F. ed. 2: 23 (1994); Cable & Cheek, Pl. Mt Cameroon: 190 (1998)
Grammitis flabelliformis (Poir.) C.V.Morton [family GRAMMITIDACEAE], in Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 38: 57 (1967)
Grammitis rigescens (Willd.) Lellinger [family GRAMMITIDACEAE], in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 98(2): 383 (1985); J.E. Burrows, S Afr. Ferns & Fern allies: 185, fig. 44, 186, t. 30, 1 (1990)
Information
Rhizome long-creeping, sometimes branched. Stipes 1.2– 10.2 cm long, with 1– 4-forked catenate hairs 0.1– 0.7 mm long. Lamina linear-elliptic or narrowly elliptic in outline, 2.3– 33+ cm long, 0.5– 2.2 cm wide, acute to obtuse at apex, truncate to long-attenuate to very narrow stipe wing at base, pinnate or very deeply pinnately divided to a distance 0.1– 0.3 mm from the midrib, pinnae 9– 56+ pairs, longest pinnae triangular to oblong, 3– 10 mm long, 2– 5 mm wide, obtuse to bluntly acute at apex; with 1– 7-forked catenate hairs 0.1– 0.7 mm long on abaxial surfaces of rachis, nearly always with simple eglandular hairs 0.3– 2.5 mm long on abaxial surface of lamina especially amongst sori. Sori on 1– 51 pairs of pinnae, in apical 1/4 of lamina to ± through except basal pair of pinnae, in 2 rows per pinna, 1 each side of pinna mid-vein, or solitary on pinnae, 1– 6 in each row on longest pinnae, in apical or basal 1/2 to 3/4 of pinnae to ± throughout. Fig. 3.
Range
U 2, 3; K 3, 4; T 2– 4, 6, 7
Altitude range
1000– 4200 m
Distribution
Uganda Toro District Ruwenzori, Mobuku Valley, Oct. 1908, Kassner 3138! & Ruwenzori, idem, on ridge above Nyabitaba hut, 15 Jan. 1967, Smith 4596!;Kenya Nyandarua/Aberdare Mts, 31 Jan. 1922, Fries 1325!;Tanzania Moshi District Kilimanjaro, Marangu, 2 Feb. 1893, Volkens 1210! & Kilimanjaro, near Kibosho, 1906, Daubenberger in Rosenstock’ s Filic. Afr. or. germ. exsicc. 27!;Uganda Mbale District Mt Elgon, Nametata R. basin, 6 Nov. 1916, Snowden 494!Kenya Meru District E slope of Mt Kenya, Kirui cone, 13 April 1969, Faden et al 69/518!;Kenya South Nyeri District Mt Kenya, South Kamweti Track above Kamweti Forest Station, 9 Jan. 1972, Archer in EA 15046!Tanzania Morogoro District Uluguru Mts, S Uluguru Forest reserve, edge of Lukwangule Plateau, 17 March 1953, Drummond & Hemsley 1669!
Distribution (external)
; Cameroon
Bioko
Congo (Kinshasa)
Rwanda
Ethiopia
Malawi
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Madagascar
Mauritius
Réunion
Notes
Wood (on Wood 267) that plants usually form single tufts alone, while Greenway (on Greenway 3174) that this species forms scattered clumps up to 3– 4 feet square. Many dried specimens have stained their mounting paper yellow; the stained paper is faintly aromatic. Melpomene flabelliformis is variable with respect to spore and sporangium size, and presence and distribution of hairs, but the variations have no geographical basis.

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