Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXVII. Pteridaceae Author Kessler, Michael Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH- 8008 Zurich, Switzerland Author Smith, Alan R. University Herbarium, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. # 2465, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 - 2465 Author Prado, Jefferson Instituto de Botânica, Av. Miguel Estéfano, 3687, CEP 04301 - 902, São Paulo, SP, Brasil text Phytotaxa 2017 2017-12-22 332 3 201 250 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.332.3.1 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.332.3.1 1179-3163 Pteris altissima Poir. in Lam., Encycl. 5: 722. 1804. Range: — Mexico , Mesoamerica, Greater and Lesser Antilles, Colombia , Venezuela , Trinidad , Guyana , Suriname , French Guiana, Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia (BE, CO, LP, SC), Paraguay , and Brazil . Ecology: —Common; terrestrial in wet forests, lowland to submontane forests; 250–1300 m . Notes: —Blades slightly pedate, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid; proximal pinnae pedicellate, the pedicels ca. 0.5 cm long, not winged; venation areolate, with 2 or 3(–4) areoles adjoining a costa between two adjacent costules; awns present on the costae adaxially. A somewhat similar, very large species, sometimes confused with P. altissima , is P. gigantea Willd. , known from the Lesser Antilles, Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , and Peru .