Cyathea nigripes (C.Chr.) Domin (1929a: 263)

Lehnert, Marcus, 2016, A synopsis of the exindusiate species of Cyathea (Cyatheaceae-Polypodiopsida) with bipinnate-pinnatifid or more complex fronds, with a revision of the C. lasiosora complex, Phytotaxa 243 (1), pp. 1-53 : 42-43

54. Cyathea nigripes (C.Chr.) Domin (1929a: 263) . Alsophila nigripes Christensen (1905: 45) , replaced synonym: Alsophila melanopus Hooker (1866: 37) , not Alsophila melanopus Hasskarl (1855: 325) . Trichipteris nigripes (C.Chr.) Barrington (1976: 4) . Type:— ECUADOR. Cotopaxi: Río Chasuan, July 1860, R. Spruce 5742 (lectotype K-000227568!/-000227569!, designated by Barrington 1978: 41, isolectotypes B-20-0078753! [fragment, Herb. Mettenius], BM-000777033!, P-00631731–00631733!).

Distribution and habitat: — Costa Rica, western Colombia and western Ecuador at 300–1400(–2000) m, in understory of humid to perhumid forests. Expected from Panama.

Remarks: —The designation of the two sheets at K as the lectotype labelled accordingly by Barrington (1978) is justified since it represents only one pinna mounted in three fragments, indubitably the complete and sole specimen that Hooker (1866) used, as can be deducted from the labeling. Cyathea nigripes is a relatively large understory species with long, arching leaves. With its overall dark appearance and overtopping trunk apices, which stand well above the last whorl of expanded fronds, it looks more like a species of the genus Alsophila .