Spore Morphology of the Pteridaceae I. The Pteridoid Ferns

The spores of Pteris cretica complex (Pteridaceae-Pteridophyta) in America

“…These results are generally in agreement with those reported by Nayar et al (1964), Nayar and Devi (1966), Erdtman and Sorsa (1971) [C-G]. A. Distal view, the ornamentation is rugate; there are numerous spheroids (arrow) on the surface; the cingulum has an entire margin and its width is reduced at the corners.…”

“…The atypical forms are similar to those mentioned by Sladkov (1957), Wagner (1974) and Devi (1977). The dimensions reported by Nayar and Devi (1966) were lesser than those found here, which may be due to other aspects of variability, although Kanamori (1971) linked the wide variability in size between minimum and maximum, among other aspects, to the apogamy of this species.…”

“…The minimum, maximum, and mean (in brackets) values are presented. Description of spores follows the terminology of Norem (1958), Nayar and Devi (1966), Lellinger and Taylor (1997) and Punt et al (2007).…”

“…Spore polymorphism and the presence of aborted spores have been mentioned for species of Pteris including Pteris cretica by Sladkov (1957), Nayar and Devi (1966) and Devi (1977). Prado and Windisch (2000) proposed three types of spore morphology for the species of Pteris growing in Brazil: Type 1 -tetrahedral, rugose surface, roundish tubercles and equatorial flange with sooth surface; Type 2 -tetrahedral, rugose surface, prominent tubercles and subequatorial flange less differentiated; Type 3 -globose, reticulate surface, prominent reticule with a protuberance in the centre and equatorial flange weakly visible.…”

“…In general the spores can be characterised as triletes with a strong equatorial cingulum and ornamented of free or fused tubercules (Sladkov, 1962;Nayar et al, 1964;Nayar & Devi, 1966;Erdtman & Sorsa, 1971;Huang, 1981;Tryon, R. M. & Tryon, A. F., 1982;Ferrarini et al, 1986;Michelena, 1989;Large & Braggins, 1991;Arreguín-Sánchez et al, 1997). The spores of Pteris ensiformis have been described as formed of bacules (Nayar & Devi, 1966) or tubercles (Tryon & Lugardon, 1991).…”