Phlegmariurus funiformis (Cham. ex Spring) B.Øllg., Phytotax.

Øllgaard, Benjamin, Boudrie, Michel & Cremers, Georges, 2020, The Lycopodiaceae of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, Phytotaxa 433 (2), pp. 101-134 : 116-117

5. Phlegmariurus funiformis (Cham. ex Spring) B.Øllg., Phytotax. 57: 15. 2012. — Lycopodium funiforme Cham. ex Spring, Bull. Acad. roy. Sci. Bruxelles 8 (2): 516. 1841.— Huperzia funiformis (Cham. ex Spring) Trevis., Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. 17: 248. 1874.— Urostachys funiformis (Cham. ex Spring) Herter , in Urban, Symb. Antill. 9: 387. 1925.—Type: GUADELOUPE: L’Herminier s.n. (lectotype P [P00559198]; isolectotypes BR, GH, NY, RB!, UC,); designated by Spring (1849: 22). Fig. 8A .

Plants robust, flaccidly pendulous, rope-like, at least to 250 cm long. Shoots homophyllous, almost equally thick throughout, 5–10(–15) mm in diam. incl. leaves, or sometimes tapering from a thicker base with patent-ascending leaves. Stems excl. 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 wide at the base, 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 in diam.

Distribution:—Southern Mexico, Costa Rica, Panamá, Greater and Lesser Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru.

Habitat:—Epiphytic in lower montane rain forest, and gallery forest, 0–1400 m elev.

Specimens examined:— GUYANA: Mazaruni R., Jenman s.n. ( BRG, US) ; January 1897, Jenman 7252 ( BRG, GH) ; Jenman 2 (K) ; Mt. Latipu , 15 km N of Kamarang (Mazaruni R.), Maas & Boyan 2613 ( BRG, U, Z) ; Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region , Waru River ca 2 km upstream from Kako River, 600 m, Hahn 5225 (P, U) .

Figures

FIGURE 8. A. Phlegmariurus funiformis—(Ecuador, Asplund 19290, S).A. Growth habit.A1, Close-up of fertile division. B. P. linifolius var. linifolius (Ecuador, Holm-Nielsen et al. 2734, AAU). B. Growth habit. B1. Leaf from basal division. B2. Middle fertile division. B3. Terminal fertile division. A–B. Drawing by B. Johnsen.—C. P. linifolius var. jenmanii (Brandbyge & Azanza 30596, AAU). C. Growth habit. C1. Close-up of basal vegetative division. C2. Close-up of terminal fertile division. C, Drawing by K. Tind.