ALBERT

Description: In his introductory statements to 'The Symposium on the Phylogeny and Classification of the Filicopsida' which was held in London, 1972, HOLTTUM, when dealing with 'dubious groups of relationships which would particularly repay investigation', mentioned the Polypodiaceae first (HOLTTUM, 1973: 6). Talking about Polypodiaceae the present authors deal with the Polypodiaceae sensu stricto only, thus excluding the Cheiropleuriaceae, Dipteridaceae, Grammitidaceae, and also the Loxogrammaceae, taxa which were formerly (or are still) included in the Polypodiaceae sensu lato. As delineated in this way, this almost exclusively pantropical family consists of about 600 species and an indefinite number of genera.

Description: The stomata as occurring on the fronds of the sporophytes of a large number of Polypodiaceae s.s. (Filicales) are investigated. A number of different stomatal types is recognised, (newly) described, and their ontogeny investigated. The different types of stomata are discussed in relation to their possible significance for tracing phylogenetic relationships in the Polypodiaceae following a cladistic analysis.

Description: During a collecting trip to Thailand, as a member of the Thai-Dutch botanical expedition 1965/1966, I was struck by the excessive amount of mucilage sometimes present on the circinnate fronds of several leptosporangiate ferns. This was especially evident in representatives of the monotypic fern family Plagiogyriaceae and the Thelypteroid ferns. The mucilage is secreted by a multitude of minute glandular hairs. In mature leaves the hairs are shrivelled and easily overlooked, or even have disappeared. Moreover, usually only herbarium specimens are available for investigation.

Description: When revising the acrostichoid genera Bolbitis and Egenolfia from the Old World for my thesis, I came across Acrostichum neglectum F. M. Bail. This species, which was successively transferred to the genera Leptochilus and Campium, has the essential characters of a blechnoid fern. On account of the differences found between A. neglectum and the other blechnoid ferns, it seems necessary to create a new genus to accommodate it, a point of view shared by Prof. Holttum, who gave me valuable advice for this study. I am indebted to Mr L. S. Smith of the Botanic Museum and Herbarium, Brisbane, for the loan of the collections of this species, to Mr J. H. Kern, who kindly helped me with the preparation of the English text, and to Prof. van Steenis for supervising the MS.

Description: The taxa formerly referred to Drymoglossum and Saxiglossum are part of Pyrrosia. Of these 6 species the taxonomy is given and the phylogenetic relationships discussed. One monophyletic group could be recognized consisting of Pyrrosia heterophylla, P. niphoboloides and P. piloselloides (Drymoglossum p.p.).

Description: The spores of all 51 currently recognized species in the homosporous fern genus Pyrrosia have been studied with the aid of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). In all species a perispore has been found. The wide diversity in sporoderm sculpture as encountered in this genus has been described and five spore types have been recognized, mainly based on perispore characters.

Description: Rhizome creeping or low-climbing (Bolbitis) or climbing ( Lomariopsis, etc.) or epiphytic (Elaphoglossum), dorsiventral, with a broad ventral vascular strand which supplies the roots and one or more dorsal strands (the fronds in two or more longitudinal rows, according to the number of strands); stipes jointed to rhizome (Teratophyllum, Elaphoglossum) or not, containing several separate vascular strands; scales peltate or pseudopeltate, clathrate or not; no elongate unicellular hairs. Rhizomes of young plants always with one dorsal meristele, this condition persisting to the adult plant in Teratophyllum and many species of Elaphoglossum. Fronds simple ( Elaphoglossum, Bolbitis spp.), pinnate (all but Elaphoglossum) or bipinnate ( Teratophyllum and Lomagramma spp.), the pinnae on fronds of Lomariopsis, Teratophyllum and Lomagramma jointed to the rachis, terminal unjointed lamina present in Lomariopsis; distinctive bathyphylls, usually more dissected than acrophylls, present in genera with climbing rhizomes (least distinctive in Lomariopsis); veins free ( Teratophyllum, Lomariopsis, most Elaphoglossum, some Bolbitis) or uniting near the margin ( Elaphoglossum spp.) or in several series of areoles with (most species of Bolbitis) or without ( Lomagramma; Bolbitis p.p.) free veins in the areoles. Fertile fronds with reduced lamina, covered beneath (rarely also above) with sporangia (except Thysanosoria, where sori are at ends of veins only), a special vascular supply for the sporangia variously developed or not; spores with perispore (except Lomagramma). Genera. Bolbitis SCHOTT, Lomariopsis FÉE, Lomagramma J.SM., Teratophyllum METT., Thysanosoria GEPP, Elaphoglossum J.SM.; also Peltapteris LINK (Rhipidopteris FÉE ex SCHOTT) and Microstaphyla PRESL, small genera of tropical America and St Flelena, allied to Elaphoglossum and not dealt with in the present work.

Description: Since the foundation of the Rijksherbarium, pteridophytes have been an important part of the total collections. Blume, the first director, had a special interest in ferns. In 1826, when he returned to Europe from his stay in Java, he took with him large collections of well preserved pteridophytes which he had gathered there himself. These, together with the fern collections of Van Hasselt, Kuhl (both from Java), and Zippel (Java, Moluccas, New Guinea), were all deposited in the Rijksherbarium. Blume’s studies on the ferns of Java, both in the wild and in the herbarium, were published before the foundation of the Rijksherbarium in the second fascicle of the ‘Enumeratio Plantarum Javae et insularum adjacentium minus cognitarum vel novarum’ (1828) in which the author enumerated 500 species of ferns and fern allies of which, apart from many new varieties 338 were new to science. Moreover, five new genera were proposed: Kaulfussia (a synonym of Christensenia), Gymnosphaera, Diacalpe, Arachniodes, and Stegnogramme. Although no keys are provided, the concise descriptions are diagnostic and meet the highest scientific standards. For nearly all the taxa, additional information on the habitat or the precise locality is given. No words can better illustrate the high quality of Blume’s work then by stating that most of the species at present recognized as being native to Java, are included in the ‘Enumeratio’. It was indeed the first critical fern flora for a tropical region, convincingly displaying the enormous diversity to be found in circumstances of a warm climate and high humidity. The ‘Enumeratio’ was followed by the Flora Javae(1828— 1851) in which Blume illustrated over a hundred fern species — nearly"""" all of them for the first time — on 96 hand coloured folio plates of which the typography, especially of the first fascicles, is superior.

Description: The species of Lecanopteris s.l. native to Sulawesi, Indonesia, are revised; eight species are recognized, of which L. celebica Hennipman and L. holttumii Hennipman are new.