Cyathea straminea H.Karst., Linnaea

Lehnert, Marcus & Kessler, Michael, 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XX. Cyatheaceae, Phytotaxa 334 (2), pp. 118-134 : 130

Cyathea straminea H.Karst., Linnaea 28: 457. 1856 [Jun 1857].

Range:— Andes from Colombia to Bolivia (LP, SC).

Ecology:—Uncommon in cloud forests and elfin forests, flourishing in open valley bottoms but also found in the forest understory; 2100–2700 m.

Note s:—This species has petiole scales of a stiff, straw-like texture that ususally are almost completely yellowish white or have a small brown basal spot that is not visible in the imbricate arrangement of the scales. In southern Ecuador and northern Peru, the scales of some plants may be fully bicolorous, with a brown central stripe instead of a spot, whereas the other plants in the population are typical. This may represent an intraspecific color variation as observed in Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth. ( Andersson-Kottö 1931, Schneller & Liebst 2007) and many flowering plants, e.g. Corydalis cava (L.) Schweigg. & Kort. ( Fumariaceae ) and Fritillaria meleagris L. ( Liliaceae ) ( Tutin et al. 1980).