Polypodium simplex Burm. f., Fl. Ind.: 235. 1768.

Lectotypus (designated here): INDONESIA. Java: s.d., Pryon s.n. (G-PREL [G00818253]!) (Fig. 7).

Notes. – In the protologue, BURMAN (1768: 235) referred to a plate in RUMPHIUS’s Herbarium Amboinense (1750: 70, tab. 30, fig. 1) and a Kleynhoff collection in his herbarium. Thus a lectotypification is necessary. The only original material in G-PREL is a Pryon collection from Java that Burman erroneously attributed to Kleynhoff: the polynomial “ Filix non ramosa foliis integris alternis ” cited in the protologue appears in Pryon’s typical handwriting on the sheet. This collections is here designated as lectotype (Fig. 7).

The Pryon specimen in G-PREL clearly represents a species of the genus Drynaria (Bory) J. Sm. It corresponds to Drynaria rigidula (Sw.) Bedd., showing a sterile frond with anastomosing veins and narrow pinnae articulate to rachis. BURMAN (1768) ’s Polypodium simplex predates SWARTZ (1801) ’s P. rigidulum . In order to allow the further use of a well-known and widely used fern name (A. Smith, pers. comm.) and to avoid disadvantageous nomenclatural changes entailed by the strict application of the ICN rules (TURLAND et al., 2018: Art. 14.1), a proposal to conserve Swartz’s name over Burman’s is in preparation.