Higher benefits of clonal integration in rhizome-derived than in frond-derived ramets of the tropical fern Bolbitis heteroclita
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Maintaining green leaves beyond the growing season has been hypothesized to benefit plants by supplying either a nutrient or a carbon source. Understanding such ecophysiological aspects of plants will help us to appreciate how a species functions in its environment and predict how it might be affected by future changes in that environment. The wintergreen fern species Dryopteris intermedia does not retranslocate nitrogen and phosphorus from old fronds in spring, but photosynthesis does take place in the old fronds during this season. To determine if carbon fixed in the old fronds is translocated to other parts of the plant, we labeled old fronds with 13 C via photosynthetic uptake and examined old fronds, new fronds, fine roots, and rhizomes for 13 C content 1 day and 1 month after labeling the old fronds. Vernally fixed carbon was translocated to the new fronds but not significantly to the below ground tissues. Old fronds in this species, therefore, serve as a carbon source for vernal growth of new fronds. This is the first study in which a fern was labeled with 13 C to track vernally fixed carbon from old fronds to the rest of the plant in a wintergreen species. Future research should examine the precise timing of this carbon movement and examine other species for a similar or contrasting strategy.
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Dryopteris
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Mostly distributed in the south–temperate and tropical zones, 250 species in 10 genera belong here. NS has a single genus of coarse ferns. Rhizomes and stipes bear scales at least at the base. Blades may be reddish when young, and are also once or twice-pinnate. The veins remain separate on the sterile fronds and join to form the sori–bearing secondary veins, on the fertile fronds. Sori are elongated; indusia are present. Spores are kidney–shaped. Photographs by David Mazerolle and Alain Belliveau.
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Elaphoglossum nimbaense J.P.Roux, sp. nov., a new epiphytic fern species which appears to be endemic to the Nimba Mountains in Liberia, West Africa is described and illustrated. Features separating E. nimbaense J.P.Roux, sp. nov. from other species in section Elaphoglossum Schott ex J.Sm. are the crustaceous, centrally dark and glossy, pseudopeltate rhizome scales, the conspicuous short stipe of the sterile fronds — the fertile frond stipes are significantly longer, the somewhat carnose, attenuate, long acuminate sterile laminae. The significantly larger adaxial epidermal cells of the fertile laminae in comparison with that of the sterile laminae and the reticulate (impresso-punctate) adaxial epidermis of the fertile laminae, perhaps caused by the collapse of bladder cells (enlarged moisture containing epidermal cells) with straight transverse walls is also characteristic of the species. The nomenclature of section Elaphoglossum and subsections therein are discussed.
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Dryopteridaceae
Epiphyte
Pteridophyte
Polypodiaceae
Dryopteris
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Sporophyte
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Pteris trifoliolata H.J. Wei, a new species of Pteridaceae from karst area in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. The new species resembles P. nanlingensis R.H. Miao by its short creeping rhizome, dimorphic fronds and oblong-lanceolate pinnae, but can be distinguished from the latter by the number and size of pinnae, and the degree of frond dimorphism.
Pteridaceae
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Pteris vittata
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The epiphytic resurrection-or desiccation-tolerant (DT)-fern Pleopeltis polypodioides can survive extreme desiccation and recover physiological activity within hours of rehydration. Yet, how epiphytic DT ferns coordinate between deterioration and recovery of their hydraulic and photosynthetic systems remains poorly understood. We examined the functional status of the leaf vascular system, chlorophyll fluorescence, and photosynthetic rate during desiccation and rehydration of P. polypodioides. Xylem tracheids in the stipe embolized within 3-4 h during dehydration. When the leaf and rhizome received water, tracheids refilled after ∼24 h, which occurred along with dramatic structural changes in the stele. Photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll fluorescence recovered to predesiccation values within 12 h of rehydration, regardless of whether fronds were connected to their rhizome. Our data show that the epiphytic DT fern P. polypodioides can utilize foliar water uptake to rehydrate the leaf mesophyll and recover photosynthesis despite a broken hydraulic connection to the rhizome.
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Epiphyte
Tracheid
Polypodiaceae
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Redwood forests contain some of the largest and most structurally complex trees on Earth. The most abundant vascular epiphyte in these forests is the fern Polypodium scouleri (Polypodiaceae). We measured dimensions of all 765 P. scouleri mats on 32 trees (27 Sequoia sempervirens, 5 Picea sitchensis). Eighteen P. scouleri mats from 11 trees were randomly selected for removal and dissection in the laboratory. The total fern mat mass consisted of live fronds (3.3%), dead fronds (2.4%), live rhizomes (4.2%), dead rhizomes (8.9%), roots (34.4%), humus (28.0%), and debris (18.8%). We used multiple regression analysis to develop equations for estimation of fern masses, and we applied these equations to undisturbed fern mats on the 32 trees. Individual trees supported up to 742 kg dry mass of P. scouleri mats. These are the highest whole-tree epiphyte masses ever reported. We also quantified crown structure and counted the number of vascular plant species occurring as epiphytes on each tree. Very large, complex trees had more fern mat mass and higher vascular epiphyte species richness than smaller, simpler trees. Desiccation-sensitive organisms dependent on water stored in fern mats may be unable to survive in managed redwood forests lacking large, complex trees with abundant P. scouleri.
Polypodiaceae
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Epiphyte
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As a result of examination of the fern types from Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the need for valid names for regional floras, the following new combinations are made: Pecluma camptophyllaria var. macedoi, P hoehnii, P imbeana, and P insularis. Pecluma was segregated from Polypodium by Price (1983); it differs from Polypodium by the short-creeping, unbranched rhizome, basally attached rhizome scales, terete, dark stipe, pectinate lamina, multicellular, unbranched acicular hairs, and multicellular branched or unbranched glandular hairs. This complex was studied monographically by Evans (1969). Pecluma contains about 31 neotropical species; Price (1983) transferred 28 of these to Pecluma. Later, some new combinations were made by Lellinger (1984, 1987), Tryon and Stolze (1993), and Moran (1995). However, some Brazilian species were not examined or evaluated in these earlier pa-
Polypodiaceae
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AbstractAsplenium nidus, a common epiphytic fern, has a short, erect rhizome and a rosette of simple fronds. Propagation is by spores as the plant does not reproduce vegetatively. Plants can be divided into two, four or even eight segments and potted individually to give these numbers of plantlets. A more productive method is described whereby individual fronds are dissected, each with a small piece of stem attached; the pieces are then planted in vermiculite. Up to 33 plantlets per plant and 13 plantlets per frond piece were produced by this method, which is easy and rapid. Sufficient plants are available to meet the limited demands for A. nidus, but the method is useful for multiplying some of the available and attractive cultivars.
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Rosette (schizont appearance)
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