Sticherus pallescens (Mett.) Vareschi

Dicranopteris bicolor (Christ) Underw. Bull. Torrey
Club 34: 252. 1907,
Gleichenia bicolor Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 6 : 279. 1906.
Rhizome flexuous, densely clothed with shining atropurpureous lanceolate -subulate scales 5 mm. long; primary leaf-axis continuous, stout, 6 mm. or more in diameter, elongate, the lower portion clothed with spreading rigid scariose ovate-subulate dark-brown white-margined scales up to 5 mm. long and with other yellowishwhite scales, the upper parts with a dense covering of spreading broadly ovate-acuminate shining silvery-white scales, these often purplish at the base ; primary branches several pairs, very ample, 2 or 3 times pseudodichotomous, the primary internode 5-11 cm. long, naked, densely paleaceous, the bud from this usually not prolonged as a secondary axis ; secondary internodes 5-8 cm. long, usually naked ; tertiary internodes 6-13 cm. long, fully pectinate like the pinnae ; pinnae up to 33 cm. long, 7-10 cm. broad, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, incised nearly to the rachis, glabrous ; segments very coriaceous, usually somewhat revolute in drjdng, linear, acute, wholly glabrous, very glaucous below, 3.5-5 cm. long, 3-3.5 mm. broad, dilatate at the base (5 mm. broad), joined by a wing 1-1.5 mm. broad on each side of the rachis; veins 25-50 pairs, dark, immersed, oblique, once-forked near the base ; sori numerous, normally 5-sporangiate (casually 3or 4-sporangiate), slightly inframedial, borne upon the anterior branch.
Type locality : Valley of the Rio Navarro, Costa Rica, altitude 1400 meters. Distribution : Interior mountains of Costa Rica ; reported also from Tovar, Venezuela.