FERN GAZ. 20(4):157-162. 2016 157 TWO NEW RECORDS FOR COLOMBIA OF PSILOTUM NUDUM (PSILOTACEAE) FROM THE MAGDALENA VALLEY AND IN THE ANDEAN AMAZONIAN FOOTHILLS D. SANÍN 1, 2 & V. TORREZ 3 1 Universidad de la Amazonia, Programa de Biología, Calle 17 diagonal 17 con carrera 3F, Barrio el Porvenir, Florencia-Caquetá, Colombia; 2 Current address: Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Caixa Postal 486, 30123-970, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Email: [email protected]; 3 Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Cotacota, calle 27, Campus universitario, La Paz, Bolivia. Email: [email protected]. Key words: Inconspicuous species, Caldas, Caquetá, ferns, distribution. ABSTRACT Despite its wide distribution, Psilotum nudum has been recorded previously only from the western slopes of the Occidental Andean Cordillera of Colombia, particularly in the Chocó Region, and in the Caribbean Golf of Urabá. As a result of recent exploration, we here expand the distribution of P. nudum in Colombia by reporting two new records from the Central and Oriental Andean Cordilleras. INTRODUCTION Psilotum nudum (L.) Beauv. is a remarkable fern taxon and the simple aerial axis was widely regarded as a possible ancestral shoot design for sporophyte land plants (Figure 1) (Bierhorst, 1977; Gensel, 1977; Schulte et al., 1987). The relationships among Ophioglossales, Marattiales, Psilotales and extinct taxa (Cladoxylales, Zigopteridales, Iridopteridales, Stauropteridales) remain highly ambiguous (Gensel, 1977; Bateman et al., 1998). However, based on more recent molecular analyses, it is currently classified in the family Psilotaceae as a sister group of Ophioglossaceae, with both included in the class Psilotopsida (Smith et al., 2006). These molecular results are supported by evidence from morphology, for example, both families have cylindrical subterranean, non-green, mycorrhizal gametophytes and possess sporangia that are born on the adaxial surface of the leaf (Moran, 2004). Psilotum nudum has a wide distribution, which is principally pantropical (Tryon & Tryon, 1982; Mickel & Smith, 2004), but it can be distributed in the subtropics of Australia and New Zealand (AVH, 2016) and in the more temperate zones of Spain (Molesworth-Allen, 1966; Galan et al., 1996). It can be found from sea level up to 1840m (Idárraga-Piedrahita et al., 2014; Murillo et al., 2016; TROPICOS, 2016). In America, it has been recorded from the south of the United States of America, Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayanas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and in the Antilles (Mickel & Smith, 2004; Murillo et al., 2008; Moran 2011). It can be found either in pristine forest or urban zones (Moran, 2011). The taxon may have few records in Colombia due to the fact that it does not look like a fern (Moran, 2004) and it prefers to inhabit places in the shade (Galan et al., 1996). Both decrease the probability of its discovery, especially for the non-trained botanist. In 158 FERN GAZ. 20(4):157-162. 2016 Colombia, until now, it was recorded only from four localities in the Occidental Cordillera and in the Caribbean Golf of Urabá, principally in the Chocó Region (Table 1, Figure 2). As a result of a botanic exploration in the Magdalena Medio region and in the Andean Amazonian foothills, it was discovered growing as an epiphytic fern in two new locations (Table 1, Figure 2). However, the habit of the plant can be epiphytic, terrestrial or Figure 1. Psilotum nudum . A: Habit of the plant, scale bar (2 cm). B: Stem and leaves, scale bar (5 mm). C: Sporangia, scale bar (1 mm). D: Ramification of the rhizome, scale bar (5 mm). All from D. Sanín & J. L. Peña 6046 (COL). Photos by J. L. Peña. SANÍN & TORREZ : PSILOTUM NUDUM 159 lithophytic (Galan et al., 1996; Windisch, 1997). Interestingly, this taxon can be found erect or pendulous, which may depend on the environmental conditions of the locality (see TROPICOS, 2016). A most suitable place to find this species is in the axes of the leaves of palm trees (Windisch, 1997; Moran, 2004), and we have found the new records on Bactris sp. or Elaeis guineensis Jacq . (Figure 1A). It was suggested that reports of this taxon from Antioquia, Colombia reflected the fact that it was cultivated here (Idárraga-Piedrahita et al., 2014), but these new records provide supporting evidence that it can grow wild here as proposed by Moran (2004). Figure 2. Distribution of Psilotum nudum in Colombia. The black dots are previous records: 1) Apartadó, 2) Medellín, 3) Chocó, 4) Valle del Cauca and 5) Cauca. The asterisks are the new records in: the Central and Oriental Andean Cordillera of Colombia from 6) Norcasia-Caldas and 7) Florencia-Caquetá. 1 6 Table 1. Records of Psilotum nudum in Colombia. 0 Localities Altitude (m) Collection Collection date Bibliography Antioquia: Apartadó y 0-1500 J. Santa 378 (HUA) Not provided Idárraga et al. (2014). Medellín. Chocó: Nuqui-Pangui. 0 A. Gómez et al. 500 (MO) 14 Jan. 1992 TROPICOS (2016). Playa La Olimpica. Cauca: Guapi, Orillas del B. R. Ramírez P. 17461 Ramírez & Macias-Pinto río Guapi: Población de 5 16 Nov. 2003 (CAUP) (2007). Guapí. Valle del Cauca: Buenaventura, Bahía de 0 E. P. Killip 35510 (COL) 05 Apr. 1939 Murillo et al. (2016). F Buenaventura. E R N Caldas: Caldas, Norcasia, G Vereda Quiebra de Roque, D. Sanín, A. F. Bohórquez- A Z . Reserva Riomanso, O., J. Ramírez-G., V. 224 2 Dic. 2011 Current record 2 0 desviación a mano Ramírez-V. & J. P. Betancur ( 4 ) izquierda de la Quebrada la 5539 (HUA) : 1 5 Tostada. 7 - 1 6 Caquetá: Florencia, Jardín 2 . D. Sanín & J.L. Peña 6046 2 Botánico Uniamazonia, 269 14 Jul. 2015 Current record 0 (COL) 1 Sendero de la Anaconda. 6 SANÍN & TORREZ : PSILOTUM NUDUM 161 The discovery of these populations of Psilotum nudum in Caldas and Caquetá department expand its distribution to the Central and Oriental Andean Cordilleras of Colombia (Figure 2), and suggest that the plant may have a wider distribution in Colombia. However, due the difficulties of recording it, its real distribution is still not well known. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DS would like to thank the University of the Amazonia for the funding support. DS is indebted to the Biology program, especially to Professor Alexander Velasquez-Valencia and the staff of the Natural History Museum of the University of the Amazonia for providing infrastructure to develop the research. The photographs were kindly provided by J.L. Peña. We thank Professor E. Trujillo Trujillo, for generously providing literature and support in the initial phases of this research. We are grateful to Professor Mary Gibby for her kind comments that improved our manuscript. REFERENCES AVH. 2016. Australia’s Virtual Herbarium , Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, <http://avh.chah.org.au>, accessed < 11 May. 2016 >. BATEMAN, R.M., CRANE, P.R., DIMICHELE, W.A., KENRICK, P.R., ROWE, N.P., SPECK T. & STEIN, W.E. 1998. Early evolution of land plants: Phylogeny, physiology and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. Annual Rev. Ecol. Syst . 29: 263–92. 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