- IPNI Life Sciences Identifier (LSID)
- urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60452468-2
- Publication
- American Fern Journal; a quarterly devoted to ferns.
- Collation
- 98(4): 222 (-224; f.3,7C)
- Date of Publication
- dt. 2008; issued 27 Mar 2009
- Family as entered in IPNI
- Grammitidaceae
Type Information
- Collector Team
- M. Kessler & M. Kelschebach 107
- Locality
- N side of Cerro Uchumachi above Coroico, alt. 2350 m
- Collection Date
- 14 Jul 1989
- Type Herbaria
- holotype LPB
isotype GOET - Latitude
- 16° 12' S
- Longitude
- 67° 45' W
- Distribution Of Types
- Nor Yungas (La Paz, Bolivia, Western South America, Southern America)
Remarks
Protologue: The name refers to the narrow laminae with long curved tips, which are reminiscent of whips (Latin, flagellum). Melpomene flagellata occurs in elfin forests and moist montane forests at 1950–3300 m in eastern Peru and Bolivia (Fig. 7C). The segment shape of Melpomene flagellata varies strongly between trapezoid to rounded in small segments to deltate or short-oblong in larger ones. Melpomene flagellata replaces M. wolfii (Hieron.) A. R. Sm. & R. C. Moran, which at first sight is almost identical, in Bolivia and eastern Peru (Fig. 7C). Melpomene flagellata, however, has thinner rhizomes, thinner petioles with thinner alae, and narrower rhizome scales than M. wolfii; also, M. wolfii lacks hairs on the petioles. Pubescence of fertile laminae is similar and highly variable in both species, varying from glabrous to densely hairy in even one plant. In M. flagellata, the ciliform and setiform laminar hairs reach 1.2–1.8 mm length and are clustered in the sori; in M. wolfii, the laminar hairs are shorter (0.5–0.8 mm) and evenly distributed on the laminae. Melpomene moniliformis differs from M. flagellata in the horizonally creeping rhizomes and shorter (0.5–1.0(–1.5) vs. 1.0–2.0 mm) setiform and ciliform hairs on the petioles. The soral hairs of M. flagellata are on average longer and more abundant than in M. moniliformis (12–20 hairs, 1.2–1.8 mm long vs. 1–5 hairs, 0.5–1.0 mm long) and thus more conspicuous. Melpomene moniliformis also lacks segments with truncate tips, which are characteristic of M. flagellata.