Notholaena trichomanoides (L.) Desv. 1813

Introduction

Notholaena trichomanoides is the type of the genus (Brown, 1810; but see Pichi Sermolli, 1989; Yatskievych and Smith, 2003). It is a species of the Caribbean, found on each of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, and is unusual for a notholaenid in being absent from Mexico. It has linear leaves, with widely spaced, more-or-less undivided leaf segments, densely covered underneath with white farina. The farina may, in turn, be densely covered with a dense layer of dissected scales (N. trichomanoides var. trichomanoides—the Scaly Caribbean Cloakfern), or largely exposed (N. trichomanoides var. subnuda Jenm.—the Bald Caribbean Cloakfern). Both varieties occur on all four islands, frequently grow together, and appear to differ mostly (if not entirely) in only this one character (Tryon, 1956).

Characteristics

This species can be distinguished from its three Caribbean congeners (N. cubensis, N. ekmanii, and N. schaffneri) by its leaf shape and scales; N. cubensis and N. ekmanii—restricted to Cuba—are glabrous aside from their farina, as is Argyrochosma incana; N. schaffneri—restricted, in the Caribbean, to Jamaica—has narrowly elliptic leaves.

Other Names for Notholaena trichomanoides (L.) Desv. 1813

• Cheilanthes trichomanoides (L.) Mett.
• Pteris trichomanoides L.
• Cincinalis trichomanoides (L.) Desv.
• Chrysochosma trichomanoides (L.) Pic. Serm.
• Vernacular Names: Caribbean Cloakfern

References

Brown, R. 1810. Prodromus Florae Novae Holandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Richard Taylor & Sons, London.

Giauque, M. F. A. 1949. Wax glands and prothallia. American Fern Journal 39:33-35.

Mickel, J. T., and A. R. Smith. 2004. The Pteridophytes of Mexico. The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York.

NatureServe. 2008. NatureServe Explorer, Arlington, Virginia. www.natureserve.org/explorer/

Pichi Sermolli, R. E. G. 1989. Again on the typification of the generic name Notholaena R. Brown. Webbia 43:301-310.

Rothfels, C. J., M. D. Windham, A. L. Grusz, G. J. Gastony, and K. M. Pryer. 2008. Toward a monophyletic Notholaena (Pteridaceae): Resolving patterns of evolutionary convergence in xeric-adapted ferns Taxon 57:712-724.

Tryon, R. M. 1956. A revision of the American species of Notholaena. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 179:1-106.

Windham, M. D. 1993a. Notholaena. Pages 143--149 in Flora of North America (Flora of North American Editorial Committee, ed.) Oxford University Press, New York.

Windham, M. D., and G. Yatskievych. 2003. Chromosome studies of cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) from the western United States and Mexico. American Journal of Botany 90:1788-1800.

Wollenweber, E. 1984. Exudate flavonoids of Mexican ferns as chemotaxonomic markers. Rev. Latinoamer. Quim. 15:3-11.

Yatskievych, G., and A. R. Smith. 2003. Typification of Notholaena R. Br. (Pteridaceae). Taxon 52:331-336.