View source for Pleopeltis

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Pleopeltis
|accepted_authority=Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=5(1): 211. 1810
|year=1810
}}
|common_names=Shielded-sorus ferns
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Polypodiaceae;Pleopeltis
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Polypodiaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Pleopeltis]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek pleos, many, and pelte, shield, in reference to the peltate scales covering immature sori
|volume=Volume 2
|mention_page=
|treatment_page=
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Plants </b>epiphytic, on rock, or rarely terrestrial. <b>Stems</b> often long-creeping, usually branched, 1–2.5 mm diam., not whitish pruinose; scales bicolored with dark central region, round to ovate-lanceolate or subulate, clathrate toward center, glabrous or pubescent with reddish brown hairs, margins transparent, erose-denticulate to fringed-ciliate. <b>Leaves</b> monomorphic, widely spaced, not conspicuously narrowed at tip, to 25 cm. <b>Petiole</b> green to dark brown or black, flattened to terete, often grooved proximally and winged distally. <b>Blade</b> oblong-linear to deltate, simple and entire or deeply pinnatifid, not pectinate, with fewer than 25 pairs of segments, not glaucous, with conspicuous peltate scales on abaxial surface; rachis sparsely to densely scaly abaxially, glabrous to sparsely scaly adaxially; scales ovate-lanceolate to spheric, peltate, clathrate toward center. <b>Segments</b> (when present) linear to oblong; margins entire to crenulate; apex rounded. <b>Venation</b> mostly free or complexly anastomosing, with 1–several included veinlets in fertile areoles. <b>Sori</b> often confined to distal 1/2 of leaf, discrete or confluent, circular to oval when immature, borne at ends of single veins or at junction of several veinlets, in 1 row on either side of midrib; indument of ephemeral, peltate scales covering immature sori. <b>Spores</b> smooth with scattered spheric deposits or slightly papillate or verrucose. <b>x</b> = 34, 35, 37.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=Tropical regions;North America;Mexico;West Indies;Central America;South America;Africa;Asia in India.
|discussion=<p><i>Pleopeltis</i> is a neotropical genus of mostly epiphytic ferns. Its center of diversity is in southern Mexico and Central America. The genus is currently under revision, and preliminary data indicate that certain scaly-leaved species traditionally placed in the genus <i>Polypodium</i> are actually more closely related to <i>Pleopeltis</i> than they are to <i>Polypodium</i>. The two North American species of this scaly <i>Polypodium</i> group recently have been transferred to <i>Pleopeltis</i> (M. D. Windham 1993) and are similarly treated here.</p><!--
--><p>Species ca. 50 (4 in the flora).</p>
|tables=
|references={{Treatment/Reference
|id=wendt1980a
|text=Wendt, T. 1980. Notes on some Pleopeltis and Polypodium species of the Chihuahuan Desert Region. Amer. Fern J. 70: 5--11.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=windham1993a
|text=Windham, M. D. 1993. New taxa and nomenclatural changes in the North American fern flora. Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 19: 31--61. 1993.
}}
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Blades simple.
|[[#key-0-2| > 2]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Blades deeply pinnatifid.
|[[#key-0-3| > 3]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Scales on abaxial blade surface scattered, less than 0.5 mm wide, mostly roundish and deeply fringed (appearing stellate); petioles conspicuously flattened in cross section; sori oval to oblong, often confluent; stem scales mostly round, with numerous reddish brown hairs.
|[[Pleopeltis astrolepis|Pleopeltis astrolepis]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Scales on abaxial blade surface dense and overlapping, 0.5–1 mm wide, broadly ovate-lanceolate with fringed-ciliate margins; petioles round in cross section; sori round to oval, discrete; stem scales lanceolate-attenuate, with only occasional hairs.
|[[Pleopeltis polylepis var. erythrolepis|Pleopeltis polylepis var. erythrolepis]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Mature blade scales distinctly bicolored with dark brown centers and broad tan to silvery gray transparent margins, clathrate only near point of attachment; petiole scales often overlapping, margins ± entire; sori deeply embossed, forming bumps on adaxial blade surface; stems usually 1–2 mm diam.
|[[Pleopeltis polypodioides var. michauxiana|Pleopeltis polypodioides var. michauxiana]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Mature blade scales not bicolored or occasionally with very narrow transparent margin, dark reddish brown, clathrate throughout with cell luminae large and clear; petiole scales rarely overlapping, margins denticulate to ciliate; sori not embossed, rarely visible on adaxial blade surface; stems usually 2–3 mm diam.
|[[Pleopeltis riograndensis|Pleopeltis riograndensis]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Pleopeltis
|author=Elisabeth G. Andrews;Michael D. Windham
|authority=Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow
|rank=genus
|parent rank=family
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Polypodiaceae
|distribution=Tropical regions;North America;Mexico;West Indies;Central America;South America;Africa;Asia in India.
|reference=wendt1980a;windham1993a
|publication title=Sp. Pl.
|publication year=1810
|special status=
|source xml=https://bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation/src/2e0870ddd59836b60bcf96646a41e87ea5a5943a/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V2/V2_542.xml
|genus=Pleopeltis
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Polypodiaceae]]