Published 27th August 2008
Edited by M. Gibby & A. Leonard
MAIN ARTICLES
| The cytotaxonomy of the Asplenium stuhlmannii complex (Aspleniaceae: Pteridophyta) in Africa | A. F. Braithwaite | pg(s) 81-90 |
| ABSTRACT | |
| A new octoploid species, Asplenium mantoniae, intermediate between two tetraploids species, A. stuhlmannii and A. jaundeense, is described from West Africa. The morphology and distribution of members of the complex are consistent with the view that the octoploid has probably arisen by hybridization of the two tetraploids and chromosome duplication. |
| Asplenium delavayi (Aspleniaceae: Pteridophyta) – A fern species new to Nepal | A. Rijal | pg(s) 91-97 |
| ABSTRACT | |
| Asplenium delavayi (Franch.) Copel., a Sino-Himalayan species, described from S.W. China and previously known only as far west as Sikkim, has been discovered in the Baitadi District of west Nepal. This is much further west than might be expected and emphasises the possibility of more species being discovered in Nepal with increased collection and study. |
| Morphotype and conflicting taxonomies in Pteridium (Dennstaedtiaceae: Pteridophyta) | J. A. Thomson | pg(s) 101-109 |
| ABSTRACT | |
| Conflicting taxonomic treatments of the diploid bracken ferns of the Laurasian lineage within Pteridium are briefly reviewed. The infraspecific entities recognised in this section of the genus can be separated on morphological, phenological and physiological criteria into two main groups referred to respectively as ‘aquilinum’ and ‘latiusculum’ morphotypes. Evidence of gene flow between morphotypes is discussed, including the finding from DNA studies that taxa of the ‘aquilinum’ and ‘latiusculum’ morphotypes in each major geographic region are more closely related to the contrasting morphotype from the same region than to the corresponding morphotype from another region. It is proposed here that the ‘aquilinum’ and ‘latiusculum’ morphotypes may be regarded as mediated by a simple genetic polymorphism involving alternative pleiotropic alleles at a single major morphogenetic locus comparable to those previously described in Athyrium and postulated in Asplenium and Pteridium, but other possible models are discussed. It is concluded that P. aquilinum is best treated as a single species containing at present 11 subspecies. |
SHORT NOTES
| Corrections to A revised handbook to the Flora of Ceylon, Volume XV, Parts A & B, Ferns and Fern-allies | M. Shaffer-Fehre | pg(s) 98-99 |
| Two new species of Selaginella subgenus Heterostachys (Selaginellaceae) from the Guianas – a correction | M. Gibby | pg(s) 100 |
BOOK REVIEWS
| Biology and evolution of Ferns and Lycophytes. Tom A. Ranker & Christopher H. Haufler (eds) | M. Gibby | pg(s) 111 |
