Saccoloma elegans chartaceum

Description

Terrestrial,to 1.5 m tall;rhizome stout,erect to decum­bent in age,with thick,shiny,dark-brown scales.Leaves 1-pinnate;petioles slightly prickly to touch near base,of­ten scaly;petiole and rachis dark brown or purplish,shiny;leaflets lanceolate-oblong,gradually long-acuminate,ob­tuse to acute and often unequal at base,15-30 cm long,2-4 cm wide;sterile margins crenulate to serrulate;lat­eral veins frequently 1-forked above base occasionally in distal half of blades.Sori very numerous along margin,contiguous or nearly so,from near base often to very near apex;indusium thin,hemispherical and glabrous.Croat 8575.Infrequent,usually on stream banks in the forest.Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil;West Indies.In Panama,known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone (both slopes),Panama,and Darien and from premontane wet forest in Chiriqui and Panamd.