Microgramma nitida

Noteworthy features of Microgramma nitida:

Stem-like rhizomes are long-creeping, up to 6 mm (1⁄4 in) thick, covered with silvery or whitish hairs (trichomes) and brown to reddish scales; leaves are spaced along the stems. Leaves with no lobes, teeth or indentations usually are at least twice as long as wide and up to 3 cm (1+1⁄8 in) across. No scales dot the lower surfaces. Leaf veins coming off the midvein are hard to see, but they connect with one another, not extending to the margin. Sori are roundish and well separated from one another, appearing in one row between the midrib and margin.

Microgramma nitida occurs in Mexico's eastern states from Tamaulipas southward, throughout Central America, and in the Caribbean on the islands of Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and San Andrés and Providencia. In the US state of Florida Microgramma nitida has escaped from cultivation.

In the Mexican states of Puebla and Tabasco, a decoction made from the rhizome of Microgramma nitida is used to treat kidney problems. A decoction of other parts is drunk to alleviate pain of the liver and purify the blood. In Veracruz state it has been documented as used for snakebite. Among the Mayan people of the Yucatan Peninsula it is used for stomach ache, including cramps, colics and gastritis, as well as internal parasites.

The genus name Microgramma derives from the Greek mikros meaning "small", and gramme, meaning "line." This refers to the elongated sori observed on the type species, though Microgramma nitida has round sori. The species name nitida is from Latin meaning "shiny." When John Smith named the taxon he did not say what he saw about the fern that was shiny, though possibly the fern's indumentum of silvery or whitish, hair-like (trichomes) on the rhizomes could suggest a certain luminescence.

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