Pteridaceae
Pityrogramma

Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) Link

First published in J.C.Mössler, Handb. Gewächsk., ed. 3. 3: 20 (1833)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Mexico to Tropical America. It is a rhizomatous geophyte or lithophyte and grows primarily in the subtropical biome. It is used to treat unspecified medicinal disorders, has environmental uses and social uses and as a poison and a medicine.

Descriptions

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Andean, Guiana Shield, Caribbean, Orinoquia, Pacific. Elevation range: 0–2700 m a.s.l. Native to Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Caquetá, Cauca, Chocó, Cundinamarca, Guainía, Guaviare, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Quindío, Risaralda, San Andrés y Providencia, Santander, Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Vaupés, Vichada.
Habit
Herb.
Conservation
National Red List of Colombia (2021): Potential LC.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
Vernacular
Yerba de la virgen
[UPFC]

Adiantaceae, A. H. G. Alston. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Ferns and Fern-Allies Supplement. 1959

Ecology
On bare earth in roadside cuttings, or cleared ground, up to 4, 400 ft. alt.
[FWTA]

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology
Alt. 0 - 2700 m.
Morphology General Habit
Herb.
Distribution
Native from Colombia.
Conservation
Not Evaluated.
[UPB]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Colombia
[CPLC]

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
helecho negro, yerba de la Virgen
[UNAL]

George R. Proctor (2012). Flora of the Cayman Isands (Second Edition). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Vegetative Multiplication Rhizomes
Rhizome ascending to erect, clothed at apex with dark golden-brown, narrowly lanceolate scales mostly 3–5.5 mm long, these long filamentous at apex (a long portion one cell wide below terminal cell)
Morphology Leaves
Blades lanceolate to oblong-deltate, 20–95 cm long, 10–30 cm broad below the middle, 2-pinnate to 2-pinnate-pinnatifid (rarely 3- pinnate); segments lanceolate to elliptic, usually at least sharp-pointed and often more or less sharply serrate or deeply incised; tissue firmly herbaceous Fronds closely tufted, up to 1 m long; stipes dark lustrous reddish- brown, about as long as the blades or shorter
Morphology Reproductive morphology Sporangia
Sporangia numerous, often nearly concealing the undersurface of the pinnules; spores prominently ridged.
Distribution
GRAND CAYMAN. Tropical and subtropical America and Africa; naturalized elsewhere in warm regions.
Ecology
Often weedy in disturbed ground.
[Cayman]

Uses

Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Poisons
Poisons.
Use Social
Social uses.
[UPFC]

Use Medicines Unspecified Medicinal Disorders
Medicinal (State of the World's Plants 2016, Instituto Humboldt 2014).
[UPB]

Common Names

Spanish
Yerba de la Virgen.

Sources

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants of Boyacá Project

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/