Diplazium latifolium T. Moore, Index Fil. 141 1859. (syn: Allantodia calogramma (Christ) Ching; Allantodia matthewii (Copel.) Ching; Asplenium latifolium D.Don (ambiguous synonym); Asplenium woodwardioides Roxb. (ambiguous synonym); Athyrium matthewii Copel.; Diplazium calogrammum Christ; Diplazium dilatatum f. diversifolium C.Chr.; Diplazium diversifolium (C.Chr.) Sarn.Singh & Panigrahi (ambiguous synonym); Diplazium grosselobatum C.Chr. ex Wu; Diplazium indicum Nair; Diplazium matthewii (Copel.) C.Chr.; Diplazium woodwardioides Panigrahi (ambiguous synonym));
.
Indian Subcontinent to S. China and N. Indo-China, Philippines: Assam, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam as per POWO;
.
China (SE-Yunnan, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi), N-Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar [Burma], Nepal, Bhutan, India (Sikkim, NE-India, S-India), Sri Lanka as per Catalogue of Life;
.

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20200413_145104.jpg

Diplazium dilatatum SN15420a : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1) – 3 mb.
Diplazium dilatatum
Terrestrial wild fern from Western Ghats Tamilnadu. It is our old collection 34 years old. Sori with oblique orientation. Fronds bipinnately lobed.


No, that’s not D. dilatatum, but D. latifolium. I think your identification references are a little out of date!  Reports of D. dilatatum from South India are misidentifications for D. latifolium, which latter occurs in both the N.E. and south of India. I have not yet seen any correct collections of D. dilatatum from South India in any herbarium, or from my own collections, though I’ve seen many misidentifications as it.  As I published in Indian Checklist 2, it is almost certainly absent from South India.

   Note the long, long sori, and the rather separate rectangular lobes of the pinnae – of D. latifolium, and texture of lamina more succulent.
   However, the specimen is not a good example – as for all Diplazium we need to see the scales at the stipe-base. If this is not carefully preserved on the sheet (without rubbing the scales off), the specimen is inadequate- and may be unidentifiable in the case of other more difficult species of Diplazium and some other genera.
    D. dilatatum has many very narrow, almost fibril-like, brown scales running up from the stipe-base to half-way up the stipe, getting smaller and almost absent further up the stipe. But D. latifolium has few, short, broad, very black, crinkly scales confined to the stipe-base, the stipe-base usually being papillate at the very base, which is more easily visible in living plants.
    Both have very thick ascendent rhizomes, but both can give rise to thin, long-creeping runners with small plants with less dissect, but sometimes fertile fronds at their apices – especially in D. dilatata. 

 


.

References:
Catalogue of Life  The Plant List Ver.1.1  Tropicos  IPNI  GBIF (High resolution specimens) India Biodiversity Portal  Flora of peninsular India  Pteridophyte Collections Consortium 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *