Hymenophyllum peltatum (Poir.) Desv., Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris

Kessler, Michael & Smith, Alan R., 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. X. Hymenophyllaceae, Phytotaxa 328 (3), pp. 201-226 : 208

Hymenophyllum peltatum (Poir.) Desv., Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 333. 1827.

Range: — Peru, Bolivia (CO, LP, SC), Argentina, and Chile; southern Africa; Mascarenes; subantarctic islands (Crozet, Kerguélen, Prince Edward). Accorded a wider distribution in many floras, including western and northern Europe, but populations in those areas are now referable to other species, e.g., H. wilsonii Hook.

Ecology: —Moderately common; saxicolous on rocky slopes and cliffs; 2500–4100 m.

Notes: —Bolivian specimens are atypical for this species in being relatively large and bearing pinnules on the basiscopic side of the pinnae. The group, probably a species complex, needs more detailed study from throughout its broad range, and the species is treated here in a broad sense. Two samples, from Borneo and La Réunion, were included in the study by Larsen et al. (2017), and these showed the species to be allied to Hymenophyllum wilsonii (sample from Scotland) and H. fucoides (sample from Costa Rica); this combined clade was sister to H. tunbrigense , H. asperulum Kunze ( Argentina and Chile), and H. rugosum C.Chr. & Skottsb. (Juan Fernández) .