Hymenophyllum capense Schrad., 1818

Ahamada H. Saïd, Sabine Hennequin, Germinal Rouhan & Jean-Yves Dubuisson, 2017, Disentangling the diversity and taxonomy of Hymenophyllaceae (Hymenophyllales, Polypodiidae) in the Comoros, European Journal of Taxonomy 313, pp. 1-53 : 24-26

Hymenophyllum capense Schrad.

Hymenophyllum capense Schrad., Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen: 919 (1818). – Type: ‘e Cap b. Sp.’, s.d., M. Hesse s.n. (holo-: GOET008793!).

Hymenophyllum natalense Bosch, Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief 4: 386, 387 (1858). – Type: ‘Port Natal’, s. loc., s.d., W. Gueinzius s.n. (syn-: K, S-P-13305!); ‘Klynrivier’, s. loc., s.d., C.L.P. Zeyher 4642 (syn-: K000435627!); ‘Gnadenthal’, s. loc., s.d., J.C. Breutel s.n. (syn-: K, S-P-13307!).

Hymenophyllum zeyheri Bosch, Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief 4: 388 (1858). – Type: South Africa, s. loc., s.d., C.L.P. Zeyher s.n. (holo-: K).

Hymenophyllum tabulare Bosch, Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief 4: 397 (1858), nom. nov. for H. rarum Kunze (1847: 234) , non R.Br. (1810: 159). – Type: ‘Hab. Africa australis (Tafelberg, Duivelsberg, Hollandsberg)’, C.F. Ecklon s.n. (syn-: K).

Mecodium capense (Schrad.) Pic.Serm. , Webbia 27: 404 (1973).

Hymenophyllum thunbergii Eckl. ex C.Presl, Eine botanische Abhandlung: 32 (1843), nom. nud. – Type: ‘e Cap b. Spei’, M. Hesse s.n. (holo-: GOET).

Short description

Epiphytic; long-creeping filiform rhizomes, bearing sparsely distributed roots and long reddish brown trichomes, and widely separated pending fronds; fronds with fully winged stipes and rachises, up to 15 cm long, more often less than 10 cm long, glabrous, linear to oblong, less often lanceolate, not more dissected than bipinnate, most often pinnatifid to pinnate-pinnatifid, with lamina apices usually obtuse to rounded, less often attenuate; pinnae often overlapping; few sori, paratactic, bilabiate without a developed base.

Global distribution

Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Tanzania to South Africa.

Distribution in Comoros

Anjouan, Grande Comore.

Additional specimens examined

COMOROS:ANJOUAN, s. loc., 1886, L.Humblot 1567 (P00139604, P01471280, P01471281, P01471282). GRANDE COMORE, Kourani, 25 Nov. 2009, C.Loup et al. 536 (P02439776).

Note

All the specimens we examined here were first identified as H. fumarioides . However, a thorough study of H. fumarioides types reveals that the specimens collected by Bory de Saint-Vincent in Bourbon (La Réunion) and Ile de France (Mauritius) later sent to Willdenow who described the species, represent in fact H. tenellum (Jacq.) Kuhn , a clearly distinct taxon restricted to Mascarenes and Madagascar (see also Grangaud 2010) and belonging to subg. Hymenophyllum . Such synonymy had already been proposed by Badré (in Tardieu-Blot 2008). Consequently, Comorian H. fumarioides should therefore be treated as H. tenellum . However, except the type specimens from the Mascarenes which are clearly H. tenellum , all specimens identified as H. fumarioides collected in the western Indian Ocean including Comoros are clearly not H. tenellum and are actually not different from H. capense specimens, including type available at GOET herbarium and original description ( Schrader 1818). Thus Comorian specimens widely identified as H. fumarioides should be treated as H. capense .