''Alsophila esmeraldensis'' is a species of

tree fern The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...

which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. It grows in coastal forest and forested slopes of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

.Navarrete, H. & Pitman, N. 2003
''Alsophila esmeraldensis''.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. Downloaded on 31 August 2015.

Description

The erect, slender trunk is about 80 cm tall and approximately 3 cm in diameter. Fronds may be either simply

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

bipinnate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

basally. They are erect or spreading and up to 2.5 m long. The rachis ranges in colour from dark brown to blackish and bears a few

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

s. The scales are linear, bicoloured (whitish with a central brown region) and with edges and apexes with dark

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e. Sori are covered by cup-like

indusia A sorus (pl. sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) in ferns and fungi. A coenosorus (plural coenosori) is a compound sorus composed of multiple, fused sori. Etymology This New Latin word is from Ancient Gr ...

. ''Alsophila esmeraldensis'' forms part of the group centered on ''

Alsophila minor Alsophila may refer to: * ''Alsophila'' (moth), a genus of moth * ''Alsophila'' (plant), a genus of tree ferns {{Taxonomy disambiguation ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15605301 esmeraldensis Ferns of Ecuador Endemic flora of Ecuador Flora of the Andes Flora of Esmeraldas Province Ferns of the Americas Endangered flora of South America