Rediscovery of Polypodium calirhiza (Polypodiaceae) in Mexico
Abstract
This study addresses reported discrepancies regarding the occurrence of Polypodium
calirhiza in Mexico. The original paper describing this taxon cited collections from
Mexico, but the species was omitted from the recent Pteridophytes of Mexico. Originally
treated as a tetraploid cytotype of P. californicum, P. calirhiza now is hypothesized
to have arisen through hybridization between P. glycyrrhiza and P. californicum. The
tetraploid can be difficult to distinguish from either of its putative parents, but
especially so from P. californicum. Our analyses show that a combination of spore
length and abaxial rachis scale morphology consistently distinguishes P. calirhiza
from P. californicum, and we confirm that both species occur in Mexico. Although occasionally
found growing together in the United States, the two species are strongly allopatric
in Mexico: P. californicum is restricted to coastal regions of the Baja California
peninsula and neighboring Pacific islands, whereas P. calirhiza grows at high elevations
in central and southern Mexico. The occurrence of P. calirhiza in Oaxaca, Mexico,
marks the southernmost extent of the P. vulgare complex in the Western Hemisphere.
© 2014 The New York Botanical Garden.
Type
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21762Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1007/s12228-014-9332-6Publication Info
Sigel, EM; Windham, MD; Smith, AR; Dyer, RJ; & Pryer, KM (2014). Rediscovery of Polypodium calirhiza (Polypodiaceae) in Mexico. Brittonia, 66(3). pp. 278-286. 10.1007/s12228-014-9332-6. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21762.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Kathleen M. Pryer
Professor of Biology

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