Blotiella confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter, 2015

Jongkind, Carel & Winter, Wim de, 2015, Blotiella confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter, sp. nov. (Dennstaedtiaceae), a new species from lowland tropical West Africa, and its distinction from B. reducta (C. Chr) R. M. Tryon, Adansonia 37 (1), pp. 7-12 : 8-10

Blotiella confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 ; 2A, B )

The new B. confusa resembles B. tisserantii from central Africa, but the pinnules of the latter species are more slender. The fronds of B. tisserantii are always 2-pinnate and smaller, whereas those of B. confusa are 2- to 3-pinnate and larger. The lanceolate undivided wing along the costa, the rounded lobes, and the acuminate to attenuate pinna-apex set the new species apart from other species in the genus that are 2- and 3-pinnate. TYPE. — Côte d’Ivoire. c. 15 km NE of Bianouan, 18.IV.1962, Leeuwenberg 3971 (holo-, WAG; iso-, B, K, MO, P).

PARATYPES. — Guinea. Béréguizi plateaux, 20.XII.1949, Adam 7549 ( P [ P00693603 ]); col de Voroa, 5.IV.1949, R . Portères s.n. ( P) .

Sierra Leone. Bandakarfaya , 380 m, 21. I .1966, Adam 23215 ( P); Gola Forest , 7.III.1945, Deighton 4094 ( K); Gola Forest , 11. V .1955 , Jordan 2076 ( K).

Liberia. Balama , 250 m, 15.IV.1985, Fay 1242 ( K) ; Sapo National Park , 105 m, 1.II.2010, Jongkind 9352 ( WAG) ; along Zwedru- Greenville road, 150 m, 18.XI.2010, Jongkind 9771 ( WAG) .

Côte d’Ivoire. Forêt de l’Angedédou , 21.VIII.1948, des Abbayes 364 ( P); Banco Forest Reserve, 13. VI .1975, W . J . van der Burg 543 ( WAG); Dabou-Hourotte , V .1900, A. Jolly 232 ( P); Banco Forest , 8.XII.1972, J . de Koning 880 ( BR, MO, WAG), 27. VI .1973, J . de Koning 1802 ( BR, E, MO, WAG), 27.VII.1973, J . de Koning 2018 ( MO, WAG), 11.IX.1974, J . de Koning 3933 ( WAG), 3.X.1974, J . de Koning 4042 ( BR, MO, WAG); Taï Forest , 160 m, 8.II.1984, Hepper & Maley 8165 ( K); Forêt de l’Angedédou, 40 m, 24.XII.1958, Leeuwenberg 2286 ( K, P, WAG) .

Ghana. Bobiri Forest , 10.IV.1951, Adams 554 ( P) ; Neung Forest Reserve , 6.IX.1950, P. Cudjoe 40 ( K) ; Kumasi (?),1895, Cummins 110 ( K) ; just outside Ankasa Forest Reserve , 9.XI.1982, Hepper, Enti & Abbiw 7437 ( K) ; Assin Cocoa Station , 1957, West-Skinn 92 ( K) .

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION. — Tropical lowland forest up to 550 m from Sierra Leone and Guinea to Ghana.

Many specimens do not have the altitude given on the sheet but it is clear that on and around most mentioned collecting localities there is no place above 250 m. An exception are the specimens from Guinea that are probably collected on an altitude between 450 m and 550 m.

DESCRIPTION

Rhizome stout, short creeping to erect, with ferruginous acicular hairs. Fronds tufted, spirally arranged, often large, up to 2.5 m long but usually much shorter; petiole about 1/3 of the length of the frond, sulcate adaxially, with several vascular bundles in a U-shaped stele, yellowish-brown, darker at the base, proximally with fulvous, acicular hairs, c. 3 mm long, with dilated, persistent bases, distally predominantly with soft, pale, multicellular hairs with dark septae, and also with ferruginous acicular hairs and with several hairs that are pale and multiseptate at the base and dark, cylindrical, and stiff at their apices; lamina about 2/3 of the length of the frond, 1–3-pinnate, usually pubescent or hairy at least abaxially; veins anastomosing, raised on both surfaces, costae and veins bearing hairs abaxially that are similar to those of the rachis but without the swollen bases and becoming KEY TO THE 14 SPECIES OF BLOTIELLA R.M.TRYON IN CONTINENTAL AFRICA.

Except for the West and Central Africa species this key is in the first place based on earlier publications (mainly Verdcourt 2000) and not on new research.

1. Sori continuous along the leaf margin, or with irregular interruptions, but no regular discrete sori discernible ....... 2

— Sori discrete, suborbicular, oblong to reniform, or crescent-shaped in deep sinuses (in exceptionally fertile specimens the sori may become confluent, but then the original discrete sori are still discernible) ....................... 4

2. Lamina 1-pinnate; pinnae undivided, their margins sinuate ............................... B. mannii (Baker) Pic.Serm. — Lamina 2-, or rarely 3-pinnate ..................................................................................................................... 3

3. Pinnules sessile, adnate, or pinnae merely lobate. Fully developed lamina submembranaceous; widespread spe- cies ................................................................................................................. B. currorii (Hook.) R.M.Tryon — Pinnules free, stalked 3-5 mm. Lamina coriaceous, lustrous; highland plant from Tanzania........ B. coriacea Verdc.

4. Fully developed lamina simple pinnate (inspect full-grown leaves; in case of doubt follow the alternative lead) ..... 5

— Lamina pinnate-pinnatifid, or more divided ................................................................................................ 6

5. Lamina 40-105 cm long, 20-65 cm wide, densely bristly-pubescent below; pinnae lobed to pinnatisect. Paraphyses ending in a long strong subulate rigid hyaline hair, equal to or a little longer than sporangia. Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.................................................................................................. B. trichosora Pic.Serm.

— Lamina 20-25(-40) cm long, 15(-20) cm wide, softly pubescent; pinna with round lobes, incised less than halfway from the margin to the costa. Paraphyses not ending in a rigid hyaline hair. Restricted to Guinea....................................................................................................................... B. reducta (C.Chr.) R.M.Tryon

6. Pinnae more or less uniformly incised from the apex to the base ................................................................. 7

— Pinnae with incisions more deeply divided towards the base of the pinna .................................................... 9

7. Pinna-rachis alate only in the apical part; pinnules petiolulate to adnate, shallowly lobate, ending in a narrowed acuminate-caudate subentire apical part; costa adaxially densely covered with long acicular arched fulvous hairs, abaxially sparsely hairy; veinlets prominent on both sides. Montane forest in Rwanda & Burundi..... B. bouxiniana Pic.Serm.

— Pinna-rachis alate to the base; pinnules different; costa with different indumentum .................................... 8

8. Apex of the pinnules acuminate; pinnae oblong to lanceolate, apex acute; fronds herbaceous; pinnules pinnatifid, distant, the sinuses between them deep and broad; veinlets adaxially sunken, abaxially prominent ........................................................................................................................... B. glabra (Bory) R.M.Tryon

— Apex of the pinnules acute but distinctly rounded; pinnae ovate, apex acuminate; fronds chartaceous; pinnules lobed; veinlets usually different ............................................................................. B. crenata (Alston) Schelpe

9. The undivided wings along the costae widest in the middle of the pinnae; first acroscopic pinnule or lobe of each pinnae about half as long as the corresponding basiscopic lobe or pinnule, or even shorter; pinnules less than 40 mm long .................................................................... B. confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter , sp. nov.

— The undivided wings along the costae widest near the apex of the pinnae; pinnae different; pinnules often longer .... 10

10. Pinnae sessile or adnate; apical segment of the lamina usually at least slightly longer than wide, or about as long as wide .............................................................................................................. B. sinuata (Alston) Pic.Serm.

— Pinnae, at least the proximal ones, long or short-petiolate; apical segment of the lamina comparatively longer ... 11

11. Pinnae petioles 7-10 mm long; pinnules with cordate base, subglabrous, petiolules 2.5-5 mm, at least some pairs of pinnules distinctly alternate; costa with abaxially, appressed black hairs. Kenya and Tanzania.............................................................................................................................. B. stipitata (Alston) Faden

— Pinnae petioles clearly shorter; pinnules with a shorter petiolule or sessile, all pairs of pinnules (sub-) opposite; costa with different indumentum .............................................................................................................. 12

12. Lamina pinnatifid or 1-pinnate proximally; pinnatifid laminae with the lobes semicircular to lanceolate (occasionally one or two of the lowermost lobes free but not stalked); pinnate laminae with pinnae oblong to lanceolate, sometimes abruptly widened in the middle part; venation abaxially pale and strongly raised. Kenya and Tanzania.......................................................................................... B. hieronymi (Kümmerle) Pic.Serm.

— Lamina 1-pinnate, 1-pinnate with a few lower pinnae having several free pinnules, or distinctly 2-pinnate; pinnae laminae regularly oblong to narrow triangular; venation different abaxially ......................................... 13

13. Petiole hairs with distinct thickened bases; fronds up to 1.5 m long, always 2-pinnate; pinnules 30-55 mm long. Central Africa, Uganda and north-west Tanzania............................................ B. tisserantii Alston & Tardieu

— Petiole hairs without distinct thickened bases; fronds 1.5 to 2.5 m long, 1- to 2-pinnate; pinnules 45-75 mm

long. East, Southern, and South-Central Africa ........................................... B. natalensis (Hook.) R.M.Tryon increasingly curved to eventually nearly appressed near the margin; areoles with a few hairs; apex narrowly triangular, attenuate, the base (semi-)hastate, with c. 18 pairs of lobes; proximal lobes narrowly triangular to oblong, 10 × 2 cm, the apex acute to acuminate, the margin lobate with rounded lobes, the sinuses between them rounded, narrow, incised 1/3 to 1/2 of the distance to the costa; ultimate segments entire to sinuate or deeply lobed or crenate, distal lobes rounded, semicircular, gradually dissolving into a repand apical margin; rachis with c. 2 mm long, pale, dark-septate lax hairs with dilated, persistent bases. Pinnae: the proximal pair reduced to c. 14 × 4 cm, the second pair 20 × 7.5 cm, lanceolate, the base truncate to semicordate, the apex acuminate; the distal free pinnae 12.5 × 6 cm, lanceolate, widest in the middle, the base for c. 7 mm adnate on the basiscopic side of the costa, 1 to 3 mm on the acroscopic side, the apex attenuate, the margin distally with round lobes measuring c. 5 mm long and 7 mm wide, the sinuses between adjacent lobes rounded, narrow, incised 1/3 to 1/2 of the distance to the costa, gradually more incised from the middle towards the base, the proximal pinnules free, the first acroscopic pinnule reduced. Pinnules deltoid-oblong, the apex rounded, the margin entire or with rounded lobes; less developed towards the apex of the frond and the pinnae, connate by a 1--3.7 cm wide wing along the costa, only the proximal pairs of the basal pinnae sessile and free. Sori marginal, confined to bases of sinuses; true indusium absent but reflexed margin of segment forms a membranous false indusium; false indusium crescent shaped, 2-3 mm long, to 6 mm long in the wider sinuses, located in the sinuses between the pinnules and the pinnule-lobes, and of the lamina-apex; paraphyses with a slightly enlarged, ovate to obpyriform apical cell. Spores monolete.

Figures

FIG. 1. — Blotiella confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter, sp. nov.: A, habit with a small frond; B, top parts of a larger frond and pinna from lower on rachis; C, primary pinna from other large frond to show variation; D, petiole in the middle; E, petiole near base; F, detail of frond from below; G, detail of F; H, hairs in detail; I, small sorus; J, larger sorus at the base of a sinus with most indusia dropped; K, sporangium and paraphyses. A, B, D-I, K, Leeuwenberg 3971 (WAG); C, J, Jongkind 9352 (WAG). Illustrated by Hans de Vries. Scale bars: A-C, 10 cm; D-F, 1 cm; G, I, J, 1 mm; H, K, 0.1 mm.

FIG. 2. — A, B, Blotiella confusa Jongkind & W. de Winter, sp. nov.; A, Jongkind 9771, almost mature medium-size frond; B, Jongkind 9771, detail of part of frond bending down; C-E, Blotiella reducta (C.Chr.) R.M.Tryon; C, Jongkind 11052, Pic de Fon, Guinea; D, Nimba Mts, Guinea in 2011; E, Jongkind 7899, Nimba Mts, in old mine shaft. All photos by C. Jongkind.