Vol. 34
o.
October-December, 1944
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A QUAR.TEilLY DEVOTID TO FER NS
AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
EDITORS
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MAXON C. V. MORTON
R. C. BENEDICT
IR A L WIGGINS
orthern South Americ OsCAR HAua-u-T Annotations on est merican Ferl18 m . JOSEPB EwAN ew lsoetes from Ecuador...........................HENBY K. SVENSO A n other Occurrence of the Apparent Hybrid Cystopteris W .ARB.EN lL WAG JL Rec.e nt Fern Literature. merican F e---t n ociety. --·-··...................--·-····UO ................--·-··------.lnde to olume 34-------·-·.·-·---···· --·-···... ----
Some Conspicuous Ferns of
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AVE.:. LANCASTER, PA. YOIUC
A NE\V IsoETEs
FRO~r EcuADOR
121
A Ne-w Isoetes fron1 Ecuador 1 HENRY
K.
SVENSON
The difficulties and disappointments which beset the voyage of Chamisso, which I discussed briefly in my recent paper on Azolla, are likely to fall upon anyone who explores for plants. The chances of arriving in a certain locality just 'vhen the veg~etation is in full bloom, Uilless one is prepared beforehand, are not very greatr---unless the ever-blooming tropical rain-forest is the place to be visited. \Vhen I visited the coast of Ecuador in the early months of 1941, with the help of the John Simon Guggenheim lVIemorial Foundation, I had been fearful lest the annual expected rainfall of some 4 to 6 inches would not be Sllfficient to bring out the vegetation in this semidesert region. The 7-year cycle of heavy rains had passed in 1939, with a fall of about 40 inches on the southwest coast, and the next heavy fall was not expected therefore until 1946. It was equally as surprising to the inhabitants of the area as it was to me to receive torrents of rain in late January of 1941. These extended together with gales and thunder storms, both of which are unusual in the area to beyond the middle of March. Fifteen inches of rain fell 011 the southwest point of the coast, and just a few miles inland the precipitation was greatly increased. Much of the countryside was impassable, and all travel along the coast ceased. But in being so restricted I did see the entire transition of a flowering season, much as Richard Spruce saw it at the little town of Chanduy, some 40 miles down the coast from Salinas, in 1864. Sodiro has already mentioned the great scarcity of ferns in the region of Guayaquil, which lies in the fringe 1
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contributions, No. 100.
122
AMERICAN FERN JouRNAL
of the same clry area. It 'vas 11ot until I was able to get into Manglaralto, 'vl1ich lies on the coast in an area moistened by clotld co11den sation against the adjacent hills, that I came a cross a11y true ferns, and these were mostly the types found in all tropical plantations. In the dry countr)r the fern allies were fe'v in nt11nber but 11111Cll more interesti11g, a11d included a large ne'v species of Isoet es, qt1ite different fro1n anytl1i11g previot1sly found in this part of Sot1th America. It is described here,vith. At l\Ia11g·laralto "\Vere dense plantations of ·vegetable-ivorjr palms, Carludov ica (the plant from which panama-h.a t fiber is obtai11ed), bana11as, and other tropical fruits ; scattered on the ground, or more rarel~r o ccurri11g~ as epiph~y·tes, vvere vvidespread sp ecies of ferns, })ractically all of ~vhich I had previously seen i11 the Galapa.g os Isla11ds. Here 'vere two species of lV[aidenhair: Adiant1l'm conc·i1tn1t.rnt, with delicate elongate drooping· fronds, and A. t etraplt.yllll/nt, with stiff upright pubescent leaves. 011 tree trunks gre'v .Aspleni1tm a1trit1tm, one of the most abt1ndant ferns of tropical 1\.1nerica, but here obviously ur1der unfavorable conditions, s ince 11011e of the pla11ts were fruiting. On the ground " Tas an Aspleni1trnt of the lunulat'ltm group which I l1ave not y et definitely identified. Bl ec1t.1~1tm occide·ntal e was comn1011, as n1ight have been expected. Of D·ryopte1"is, there " ,.ere D. patens, D. Poitea11a, and D. subt etrago11a all abt111dant 'veedy plantatio11 types. Of the relativel)r few ferr1s present, the only one of real interest 'vas the epiphJrtic Polypodi~tm ba.Zaonense, which is a variant of the " 'idespread P. lepidopteris a11d here was in splendid frtliting condition. 0£ this species I also found traces on the summit of the Chanduy Hills, and without doubt it is an indigenous species; it is a form with appressed silvery scales and la,cks the reddish coloration seen in Galapagos specimens.
A NEw
IsoETES FROM EcuADOR
123
The fern allies were also fe"r in nu1nber, but of n1ucl1 greater interest than the ferns. In shaded ra,?ines at l\fanglaralto were Sela,ginella K1tnz eana and S . erytJtrop'tts Spri11g, which Mr. Morton has kindl)r determi11ed for me. All the seaso11al pools in the ,,.icinit)r of Salina a11d Santa Elena were co,rered by Marsilea attcylopoda, "hicl1 is known onl}r from this general region. At the vvestern base of the Chanduy Hills small pools in the grassland had A zolla m~icropJ~ylla floating on the surface, ''ith the general appearance of the species as it is fOllnd i11 the Galapa,g os Islands. But of more interest in these pools was the Iso et es a plant as large as the familiar I. Ettgelmanni of easter11 United States, with leaves often a foot in length. These pools are probably completel)r dr)T throughout most of th¡e year, and the Isoetes is therefore likely to be found only in the ra.i ny season.
lsoetes pacifica sp. nov. Corm us bilobatus ( ~) . Folia numero 20-60, flexilia, longitudine 12-30 em., ca. 1 mm. diametro, versus apicem gradatim attent1ata, basi membranacea 6 mm. lata 4 em . longa, stomatibus et fibris . ' per1phericis 6 instructa. Ligula triar1gularis, basi lata. Sporangia longitudine 6-10 mm., latitudine 4-6 n1m. Megasporae albidae, diam. 480 J..J, tuberculis elongati obtusis vel subspinescentibus ornatae. Microsporae . llbrotundae, 36--40 Jl diametro, minute papillosae. Type (BrooklJrll Botanic Garden ) from pools east of Chanduy, Ecuador, March 23, 1941, Sve nson 11002. A large amphibious plant with the habit and appearance of I. Engelmanni of the eastern United States, occtlpying small pools which are probably dry except in the rainy season, in the grassy flat lands lJ"ing about four miles east of Chanduy at the base of the Cerro do Estancia. Growing with it were H etera.n thera limosa, Lemna minima, Ech1:nochloa Cr'lts-Galli and E. colonum a rather meager assemblage of uninteresting species. It is wholly distinct from any of the South American
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HYBRID CYSTOPTERIS
species treated by \fvT eber (Hed,vigia 63: 219-262. 1922) a11d tl1e Andean I. ec·ua.dorens·is Asplt1nd (Bot. Notiser 1925: 357. 1925 ) ; a11d it does 11ot fit i11to any of the species treated by Dr. Pfeiffer in l1er monograph of the Isoetacea-e ( A1111. 1\tlo. Bot. Gard. 9: 79-232. 1922). !11 both monogcoraphic accotlnts cited above, the nearest approach in size of plant and in character of megaspores is I. Ga.r d·'iLe·ria.n a Kunze from Goyaz Province, Brazil, and Paragua3r ; but in Weber's illustration of that species (fig. 34) tl1e spinescent tubercles are very fevv a11d, besides, the microspores are smooth. I have been t111able to :fi11d a11 illliStration of the sto1nata of lsoetes, despite the fact that their presence or absence in the lea.v es is one of the principal guiding points for the taxonomist. A dra,vi11g' of the sto1nata as seen under the compot1nd microscope has accordingly been made. Below it is sl1own a leaf-base ':vith meg·asporangitim, surmounted by a short triangt1lar ligule; and below the leafbase are megaspores and n1icrospores. One of the latter is g·reatly enlarged to show the roug·hened surface.
Another Occurrence of the Apparent Hybrid Cystopteris \VARREN
HER.B ERT
\VAGNER,
JR.
On Memorial Day, 1942, the 'vriter was one of the group which visited Cystopteris Blliff, as rece11tly chronicled by Dr. Wherry. 1 Seeing the Cystopten's jragil1's with glandular i11dl1sia ar1d bulblets led to the recollection of my having found a similar plant at Catoctin Furnace, Frederick County, Maryland, while fern-hunting with David E. Rawlings in 1938. A later visit in company with Neal W. Gilbert having failed to reveal any additional plants, the matter had been dismissed. 1
This
JOURNAL
34: 92. 1944.