Phlegmariurus funiformis (Spring) B. Øllgaard (2012b: 15)

Øllgaard, Benjamin & Testo, Weston, 2021, The Lycopodiaceae of Panamá, Phytotaxa 526 (1), pp. 1-66 : 26

5. Phlegmariurus funiformis (Spring) B. Øllgaard (2012b: 15) . Fig. 14D

Lycopodium funiforme Spring (1841: 516) .— Huperzia funiformis (Spring) Trevisan (1874: 248) .— Urostachys funiformis (Spring) Herter (1925: 387) . Type:—GUADALOUPE: L’Herminier s. n., BR lectotype (designated by Spring (1849: 22), GH, NY, P, RB, UC.

Plants robust, flaccidly pendulous, rope-like, at least to 250 cm long. Shoots homophyllous, almost equally thick throughout, 5–10 (–15) mm in diameter including leaves, or sometimes (shaded?) tapering from a thicker base with patent-ascending leaves. Stems excluding leaves 1.5–3 (–5) mm thick at the base, ridged by decurrent leaf bases, pale greenish to brownish, usually sporangiate from 40–100 cm above the base and upward, at least to 5 times dichotomous. Leaves almost uniform throughout, or slightly shorter upward, borne in alternating whorls of 7–8, these 1.5–3 mm apart, forming 14–16 often indistinct longitudinal ranks, densely covering the stem, usually closely falcate-appressed throughout, not twisted, linear-subulate, widest just above the base, 6–10 (–12) × 1–1.5 mm, evenly tapering into a long pungent apex, firmly herbaceous to coriaceous, dull to shining, abaxially strongly convex, often apically conduplicate, with smooth margins. Sporangia 1–1.5 mm wide.

­­­ Distribution:— West Indies, southern Mexico to Panamá, Guyana, Venezuela to Peru.

­­­ Habitats:— Epiphytic in lower montane rain forest, and gallery forest, elev. 180–1220 m elev.

­­­ Notes:— The name of Lycopodium funiforme was first given by Bory de Saint-Vincent, in Brongniart, Hist. Veg. Foss. 2: 10 (1837) as a nomen nudum, and Bory was later erroneously given as the author of the name in several publications. Spring (1849: 22) excluded a dubious Chamisso collection, labelled “California” (Herb. Bory, P), and thus indirectly selected the l’Herminier specimen as the lectotype.

Phlegmariurus funiformis is a remarkable species, being a large, pendulous epiphyte with a distinctive, rope-like (or even snake-like) aspect, due to the very regularly appressed, coriaceous, strongly convex, subulate leaves. not likely to be confused with other species. Molecular studies (Wikström & Kenrick 2001: 157), Field et al. (2015: 11) and Testo et al. (2018) indicate that this species belongs to a paleotropical clade without relatives in the Neotropics.

­­­ Specimens­­­studied:— Chiriquí: Vicinity of Gualaca, ca. 8.6 mi from Planos de Hornito on the road to the La Fortuna dam site, 1220 m, Antonio 5021 (AAU, MO, PMA). La Fortuna hydroelectric project, trail along Río Hornito drainage back to end of road, Hammel 2336 (MO). Coclé: 6 mi N of El Valle, 582 m, Armond 345 (photo DUKE). La Pintada, Palmarazo Río San Juan, Parque Nacional G. D. Omar Torrijos, 180 m, Espinosa 6150 (PMA). Panamá: Beyond Goofy Lake along road to Cerro Jefe, Correa & Dressler 478 (PMA). El Llano—Cartí road, ca. km 20, Dressler 4351 (PMA). San­­­Blas­­­(now Guna Yala): Trail E of Cangandi-Mandinga airport road, 2–5 mi S of Mandinga, Duke 14786 (MO, NY). El Llano—Cartí road, km 19.1, 350 m, de Nevers et al. 6131 (PMA).