Widespread polypody

Polypodium dispersum A. M. Evans, Amer. Fern J. 58: 173, plate 27. 1968

Stems 4--6 mm diam.; scales blackish, linear-lanceolate. Leaves erect or arching. Petiole black, 1/4--1/3 length of blade, hairs short, mostly simple, multicellular; scales deltate to linear, base broadly hastate-lacerate. Blade narrowly ovate, 20--70 × 5--11 cm; base narrowly truncate; apex acute. Segments narrowly ovate to linear, 3--5 mm wide; segments at base of blade abruptly reduced, usually reflexed. Veins 1--2-forked. Sori round or oval, sporangia with 32 spores. n = 2 n = 111, apogamous.

Sporulating all year. Usually on limestone outcrops, occasionally epiphytic in hammocks; 0 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America to s Brazil.

Pecluma dispersa frequently occurs as widely scattered clusters of small juveniles on mossy limestone, arising vegetatively from exposed roots of older plants.