The Deletion of Vittaria graminifolia from the Flora of Florida

Abstract

Interest in new state and national records, range extensions, and the status of rare or endangered species of ferns is probably nowhere more keen than in Florida. Critical field and herbarium work to upgrade our knowledge of the distribution and habitat requirements of ferns, especially in the subtropical southern region of the state, assumes political as well as scientific significance at a time when state and federal socio-economic decisions are influenced by the ecological status of species as humble as a lousewort or a snail darter. Efforts to increase the accuracy of our floristic records for Florida ferns have been quite evident in recent years, for example in the work of Messler (1974), Evans (1975), Ward and Hall (1976), Nauman and Austin (1978), Nauman (1978), Austin et al. (1979), Adams and Tomlinson (1979), and Nauman (1979a, 1979b). Such efforts, however, must include the deletion of erroneous records as well as the addition of new records. The deletion of one such erroneous record, the natural occurrence of Vittaria graminifolia Kaulf. in Collier County, Florida, is the subject of this report. The belief that V. graminifolia occurs in Collier County, Florida, its only reported occurrence in the United States, is based on a statement appended to the discussion of V. lineata (L.) J. E. Smith in Wherry's (1964) Southern FernGuide. Wherry stated that V. filifolia Fee was found in 1960 in Collier County, and he distinguished it from V. lineata by the weak iridescence and width of its scales. In another context, Tryon (1964a) showed that V. filifolia is an incorrect name for this species and that its correct name is V. graminifolia. In an effort to bring cytological evidence to bear on the identity of the Appalachian gametophyte by counting its chromosomes and those of V. lineata and V. graminifolia (Gastony, 1977), I undertook a search for V. graminifolia in Collier County. Dr. Wherry responded to my request for more information relating to his 1964 report by noting (in litt., 15 Aug 1976) that at the age of ninety and a half he was no longer able to recall more specific locality data or whether an herbarium voucher documented his report. He did recall, however, that he had visited the living fern collection assembled by John Beckner in St. Petersburg, Florida and that Beckner had there two Vittarias, one less winter hardy than the other. The less hardy one from Collier County was what Dr. Wherry took to be V. graminifolia (as V. filifolia). Wherry's information enabled me to contact John Beckner, who agreed to take me to the site from which he had collected the Vittaria in question. In the company of Dr. Michael Madison of the Selby Botanical Garden and several others, we explored the swampy locality west of Copeland and Deep Lake where Beckner clearly remembered having made the original collection, and we eventually found several specimens of what Beckner said was V. graminifolia if anything in that