Checklist of ferns and lycophytes from Parque Estadual Mata das Flores , Castelo , Espírito Santo , Brazil

We present a checklist of ferns and lycophytes from Parque Estadual Mata das Flores, a state park located in Castelo, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The park has an area of 800 ha, and its main vegetation is composed of dry forest (at 150–500 m elev.), and a small portion of wet forest (500–700 m), within the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest biome. We found 83 taxa, including 75 species, 3 varieties, 4 putative hybrids, and 1 cultivar. Among these, 17 are newly recorded from the Espírito Santo. Twenty-five taxa are endemic to the Atlantic Forest biome, and 5 are endemic to southeastern Brazil, and 2 are narrow endemics to the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. Anemia blechnoides is the only vulnerable species found, according to the national red list. We found 4 naturalized species. Among the hybrids, 3 are reported for the first time in literature (Blechnum asplenioides × B. glandulosum, Campyloneurum decurrens × C. repens, and Doryopteris collina × D. lorentzii) and 1 for the first time in Brazil (B. glandulosum × B. polypodioides).


Introduction
The state of Espírito Santo is one of the smallest in Brazil, yet has a huge biodiversity.At present, ca 7150 plant species (including mosses, ferns, their allies, and seed plants) are recognized as naturally occurring there (Brazil Flora Group 2015, Dutra et al. 2015, Costa and Peralta 2015, Prado et al. 2015, Flora do Brasil 2017).This number is still far from final, since the flora of this state has been poorly studied, and in the last several years many new species have been described (e.g., Labiak and Matos 2009, Goldenberg and Kollmann 2016, Ribeiro et al. 2016).
Although Prado et al. (2015) and Flora do Brasil (2017) list 453 species of ferns and lycophytes from Espírito Santo, there is no comprehensive paper treating these groups from this state, in the sense of plotting species per conservation unit or per geo-floristic region.The main works in this direction are the checklists of Brade (1936Brade ( , 1947)), Behar andViegas (1992, 1993), Souza (2012), Aquije and Santos (2007), Couto et al. (2016), and Sylvestre et al. (2016).To contribute this type of LIST OF SPECIES knowledge, we provide a checklist of ferns and lycophytes from the Parque Estadual Mata das Flores.

Methods
The Parque Estadual Mata das Flores is a state park located in the Municipality of Castelo, Espírito Santo, Brazil.Its geographical coordinates are ca 20°35ʹ14ʺ S to 20°38ʹ18ʺ S and 041°09ʹ21ʺ to 041°12ʹ09ʺ W. It embraces an area of ca 800 ha (Figs 1,2).Most of the park is at elevations ranging from 150 to 500 m above sea level, but with a small area on a mountain top from 500 to 750 m (IEMA 2016, personal observation).The park is completely within the Atlantic Rainforest biome, and there are 2 types of physiognomic-physiologic systems there (sensu IBGE 2012): (1) the main vegetation in the lowlands is composed of a dry forest classified as Semi-Deciduous Seasonal Forest from the Lowlands; and (2) the small highland area is a wet forest classified as Dense Ombrophilous Montane Forest, with some rocky outcrops (IBGE 2012, IEMA 2016).
The field expeditions took place during 29 February 2016 to 3 March 2016, during the post-graduation course taught by the senior author to the other authors.We walked through all trails and roads of the park and to sites without trails, aiming to visit all types of microhabitats.Because the area of the park is relatively small and the trails are placed in many different areas, we believe we sampled more than 70% of the area.
We used the literature to summarize the geographical distributions of all taxa into seven categories: (1) Endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (then the states specified if a narrower endemic), (2) widely distributed in South America, (3) widely distributed through the Neotropics, (4) pantropical, (5) sub-cosmopolitan (widely distributed around the world), (6) alien invasive (species from abroad, naturalized in Brazil), and ( 7) uncertain (taxa with a doubtful or unknown distribution).
Our collections are deposited in herbarium VIC, with duplicates sent to herbaria RB, SP, and VIES (acronyms according to Thiers 2017).In the Results, the vouchers are contracted as "Schw."plus collection numbers and herbaria.They all correspond to: "

Results
We found 83 taxa of ferns and lycophytes within the Parque Estadual Mata das Flores.Among them, only 1 is accounted as vulnerable, in the national red list (MMA 2014).The list of taxa, with their respective geographical distribution, vouchers of specimens, and diagnosis of critical taxa, follows:
The slightly reduced base of laminae is an intermediate morphological condition between the 2 putative parents, and so is the length of the petioles  Diagnosis.Rhizomes erect to decumbent, with scales; fronds dimorphic; petioles brown, adaxially flattened; fertile laminae pedate; basal segments with 1 or 2 basicopical lobes and no acroscopical lobes; veins anstomosed; sori linear, marginal, at a comissural vein; pseudo-indusia linear; sporangia and spores well formed.
While fern hybrids are well documented from other countries, they have been mostly neglected in Brazil (e.g., Rabelo and Schwartsburd 2016).Within the park, we found 4 putative hybrids, based on morphology, field observations, and aborted sporangia/spores.Among them, 3 are reported in the literature for the first time (Blechnum asplenioides × B. glandulosum, Campyloneurum decurrens × C. repens, and Doryopteris collina × D. lorentzii), and 1 is a new record in Brazil (B. glandulosum × B. polypodioides).Hybrids in the B. occidentale-complex are very common and have been extensively mentioned in literature (e.g., Mickel and Beitel 1988, Moran 1995a, Mickel and Smith 2004).Unfortunately, Dittrich et al. (2015) overlooked most hybrid events, and included only a few hybrids from southeastern Brazil.Thus, the 2 hybrids among Blechnum species are not a surprise.As already noted by Mickel and Beitel (1988), among other literature, we found that the hybrids of Blechnum spp.may have well-formed sporangia and spores.
In the genus Doryopteris, a few hybrids are also known (e.g., D. ×hybrida Brade & Rosenst.), but they are far less common.The hybrid we found presents a typical intermediate morphology (laminar shape: Figs 26-28) and with its sporangia and spores blackish and aborted.Finally, a putative hybrid between a pinnate species of Campyloneurum, C. decurrens, and the simple leafed C. repens is a new and important discovery.There is no such hybrid reported in the literature.Campyloneurum decurrens × C. repens has ternate lamina (intermediate condition between simple and pinnate laminae: Figs 23-25); its sporangia and spores are aborted.
The number of species of ferns from the park greatly increased when we explored the highland area (collection numbers Schw.3726 and above).Although the highland area is much smaller than the lowland areas, 20 taxa were found exclusively there.Certainly this can be attributed to the wetter, more favorable conditions of the highland forest.There are many mountain tops surrounding the park, and we strongly suggest a policy to include these montane areas within the park's limits, to better protect the diversity of fern species.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Map of Brazil, the state of Espírito Santo, the municipality of Castelo, and the location of Parque Estadual Mata das Flores.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Map of Parque Estadual Mata das Flores.Limits of the park in bright green.(Reproduced with permission by IEMA.)