George R. Proctor

Isoetes riparia and Its Variants

The genus Isoetes has long presented systematists with some difficult problems. Because of the morphological simplicity of the plants (apparently a derived rather than a primitive condition2) and the lack of constant and striking differences in outward form from species to species, taxonomic differentiation has, perforce, been based primarily on the configuration of the gynospore walls. Correlations of other characters have been mostly unsuccessful. An additional difficulty is that collections from many regions have been scanty, likely due to the inconspicuousness of the plants rather than to their rarity. In few parts of the world have the quillworts been more intensively collected and studied than in the northeastern United States; yet even here many entities remain poorly understood. With this in mind, the present attempt is made to reorganize the taxonomy of the Isoetes riparia complex, so as to bring out more clearly the natural relationships involved. Isoetes riparia and its apparent relatives are usually included in the somewhat arbitrary and artificial section Cristatae, characterized by crested rather than tuberculate, spiny, or reticulate gynospore-prominences. Within the section, sub-groups cannot be clearly differentiated, as there are exceptions to most separating criteria. Generally speaking, the I. riparia complex can be distinguished by the plants each having 2 corm-lobes (exception: I. riparia var. amesii); by an amphibious habitat with accompanying constant presence of stomata, which

A New Isoetes from Jamaica

The genus Isoetes L. is poorly represented in the Caribbean, with only two species reported to date. Isoetes cubana Baker collections made by Wright in the western, lowlands of Cuba. To my knowledge, there have been no subsequent collections of this species from Cuba, although certain collections from Belize strongly resemble the Cuban material and probably are conspecific with it. Isoetes tuerckheimii Brause is known from several collections made in the Cordillera

A New Filmy Fern from Puerto Rico

and margins of the blade. Blades oblong-lanceolate, 6-15 cm long, 2.5-3.5(5) cm broad, pinnate-pinnatifid, acuminate at the apex, subtruncate at the base; rhachis alate (wings 0.3-0.7 mm wide on either side); pinnae ascending, alternate, 7-13 on a side below the pinnatifid apex, 1.5-2.5 cm long, short-stalked (the stalks winged like the rhachis), the expanded portion rhombic-acuminate, 1-1.5 cm broad below the middle, deeply pinnatifid, the segments oblique, the largest ones narrowly oblong, obtuse, with lobed margins; costules of basal segments arising oppositely from costa, in turn with opposite or subopposite simple branches, each vein extending to the apex of a lobe. Sori numerous, apical on the lobes or smaller segments; involucres immersed, oblong-turbinate or turbinate, 1.7-2 mm long, the apex subtruncate to slightly flaring; receptacle becoming long-exserted.

A New Jamaican Species of Ctenitis

During the past several years the writer has explored some of the more remote corners of Jamaica for ferns, as a result of which a number of interesting new records have come to light. The type locality of the present new species is a precipitous mountain of white limestone called Dolphin Head, near the western end of the island in the Parish of Hanover. Here it grows among moist shaded boulders in association with other plants endemic to the area.

A New Jamaican Species of Hemitelia

forma oneidense (Gilbert) Clute; Dryopteris cristata (L.) Gray var. Clintoniana (D. C. Eaton) Underw.; D. fragans (L.) Schott var. remotiuscula Komarov; D. marginalis (L.) Gray forma elegans (J. Robins.) F. W. Gray; D. spinulosa (0. F. Muell.) Watt var. americana (Fisch.) Fern; D. spinulosa var. fructuosa (Gilbert) Trudell; Osmunda cinnamonea L. forma incisa (J. W. Huntington) Gilbert; Polypodium virginiannum L. forma acuminatum (Gilbert) Fern.; Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Schott forma incisum (Gray) Gilbert. SULLIVAN COUNTY: Dryopteris simulata (Davenp.) Underw.; D. spinulosa (0. F. Muell.) Watt var. fructuosa (Gilbert) Trudell; Osmunda cinnamonea L. forma incisa (J. W. Huntington) Gilbert. Specimens of all of the above are in the herbarium of the University of New Hampshire. DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND QM CLIMATIC RESEARCH LABORATORY, LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

New species of Thelypteris from Puerto Rico

During the course of field work in Puerto Rico since July 1983, many new fern records have been discovered, some of them representing entities new to science. Preliminary to publication of a book about Puerto Rican ferns, a series of short papers has been initiated in order to describe new taxa and discuss other relevant matters. A previous paper (Proctor, 1984) described a new species of Trichomanes; the present one concerns the genus Thelypteris. All the newly discovered Puerto Rican thelypterids belong to subgenera Amauropelta and Goniopteris. In considering Amauropelta, the sectional assignments follow those of Smith (1974). There is no satisfactory modern classification of Goniopteris; therefore the species of this group are not assigned to sections in the present paper. In citing my own collections other than types, the first set of specimens is deposited in the herbarium of the Department of Natural Resources, San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJ); the second and third sets are deposited at the United States National Herbarium (US) and the Institute of Jamaica (IJ), respectively. More than 100 species of Thelypteris occur in the Antilles, and nearly half of these belong to subgenus Amauropelta. The importance of these islands as centers of speciation for the latter taxon is emphasized by the recent discovery of three new Puerto Rican species, now being described. Two of these belong in section Amauropelta, and thus are allied to the species bearing sessile, reddishresinous glands characterized many years ago by Morton (1963).