Peck, J.H. 2011. New and noteworthy additions to the Arkansas fern flora. Phytoneuron 2011-30: 1–33. NEW AND NOTEWORTHY ADDITIONS TO THE ARKANSAS FERN FLORA JAMES H. PECK Department Biology University of Arkansas at Little Rock 2801 S. University Ave. Little Rock, AR 72204
[email protected] ABSTRACT Since 1995, 11 fern taxa have been added to the Arkansas flora as new and native, including Asplenium montanum , A. ruta-muraria , A. septentrianale , A. ×trudellii , Athyrium angustum , Azolla caroliniana , Dryopteris goldiana , D. celsa × goldiana , Marsilea macropoda , Palhinhaea cernua , and Trichomanes intracatum . Of the reported Arkansas native ferns, one was deleted (Azolla caroliniana ), being subsumed by Azolla mexicana and now correctly known as Azolla microphylla . Since 1995, 20 fern taxa have been added to the Arkansas fern flora as new and naturalized, including Arachnioides simplicior , Athyrium nipponicum ‘Pictum’, Cyrtomium falcatum , C. fortunei , Dryopteris erythrospora , Hypolepis tenuifolia , Marsilea mutica , M. quadrifolia , Matteuccia struthiopteris , Nephrolepis exaltata , Polystichum tsus-sinense , Phegopteris decursive-pinnata , Salvinia minima , S. molesta , Selaginella braunii , S. kraussiana , S. k. ‘Aurea’, S. k. ‘Brownii’, S. k. ‘Goldtips’, and S. uncinata . Of the reported Arkansas naturalized ferns, one was deleted (C. fortunei ), being without a known voucher. There are now 97 native and 24 naturalized fern taxa known and documented in the Arkansas fern flora. The total Arkansas fern flora is now 121 taxa documented with 3019 county-level occurrence records. Noteworthy update records and comments are reported for 79 of 97 Arkansas native species and 25 Arkansas naturalized species. KEY WORDS : Arkansas, ferns, county distribution Over the last 30 years, studies have been conducted to document the diversity and abundance of the Arkansas fern [pteridophyte] flora.