Cyathea sp.

Janssen, Thomas & Rakotondrainibe, France, 2008, A revision of the indusiate scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae, Cyathea subgen. Alsophila sect. Alsophila) in Madagascar, the Comoros and the Seychelles, Adansonia (3) 30 (2), pp. 221-376 : 365

Cyathea sp.

REMARKS

A putative new species with a pinnate-pinnatisect lamina with broadly adnate pinnules, about 5 × 0.8 cm, with acute to caudate and serrate apices, with sori spaced by about their width, with coriaceous, globular indusia and with narrow petiole scales about 3 cm long, twisted, shiny brown and ascending up to 10 cm on the petiole has been collected in Northern Madagascar (Antsiranana province, Daraina, forêt d’Antsahabe , 13°13’S, 49°33’E, 1019 m, 29.XI.2004, Nusbaumer et al. 2126 [G, G00086431]). Th e specimen includes a petiole with scales and (parts of) two pinnae. We currently refrain from describing this species, because the single specimen available is too fragmentary .

With the current keys, this taxon is most likely determined either as C. bellisquamata var. basilobata or as C. emilei var. dauphinensis . It differs from C. bellisquamata var. basilobata by its narrow petiole scales that are restricted to the base of the petiole (ascending to about 10 cm), by its acute to attenuate and serrulate pinnule apices and by its sori being spaced by about their width. It differs from C. emilei var. dauphinensis by its shiny and persistent petiole scales and its pinnules being broadly adnate to the costa also in the proximal half of the pinnae. Furthermore, the collection locality is geographically disjunct from C. emilei var. dauphinensis , which is restricted to the extreme South.