''Cyathea delgadii'' is a widespread species of tree fern. It is native to Central America (

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, Nicaragua and Panama), and much of South America (

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, Venezuela,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, including Trindade, Argentina and Paraguay). The specific

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''delgadii'' refers to Gancho do Generale Delgado, along the road to

Caldas Novas Caldas Novas () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Goiás. It is considered by many to be the largest hydro-thermal resort in the world. Location Caldas Novas is located 170 km south of state capital, Goiânia, with good roads link ...

, Brazil, where the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

material was collected.

Description

The trunk of ''Cyathea delgadii'' is erect, tall and 5–15 cm in diameter. Fronds are bipinnate and in length. The crown is large and slightly arching. The petioles are yellow-brown to dark brown in colouration and bear spines. Small brown

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 cover the rachis, which is also brown. Sori are borne on each side of the pinnule midvein and are protected by globose indusia.

Distribution and habitat

''Cyathea delgadii'' grows in tropical and submontane rain forest, forest understory, in open locations, and along paths, at an elevation of and above (up to in Peru). It forms part of a large complex centered on ''Cyathea fulva''. In Costa Rica, ''C. delgadii'' is present in the Cordillera de Guanacaste, Cordillera de Tilarán, north slope of the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

, the Norte region,

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

side of the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

, Fila Costeña, and the Osa Peninsula, where it has an altitudinal distribution of 500–1500 m. Since it is abundant where it does grow and has such a large natural range, the conservation status of ''C. delgadii'' can be equated with the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

category "lower risk".

Cultivation

''Cyathea delgadii'' is cultivated as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for gardens. To do well in cultivation, plants should be provided with consistent moisture and well-drained

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

as a

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism lo ...

. This species does best when sheltered from the wind and grown in a warm area. The roots of this species are used for the culture of orchids and the manufacture of crafts. ''C. delgadii'' may grow on disturbed land and, since it is often harvested from these areas, its use does not have as great an impact on the forest as it would otherwise.

References

External links

Guimarães, Thais de Beauclair & Gil M. Felippe 1999. The survival and establishment potential of spores of ''Cyathea delgadii'' Sternb. in soils from Itirapina and Moji Guaçu (SP), Brazil. ''Rev. bras. Bot.'' 22(3).
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5197551 delgadii Ferns of the Americas Flora of Costa Rica Flora of Panama Flora of Nicaragua Flora of northern South America Flora of western South America Flora of Brazil Ferns of Argentina Flora of Paraguay Garden plants of Central America Garden plants of South America Ornamental trees