Ceradenia spectabilis, a new species, is described from Cerro del Torrá, an isolated peak in western Colombia well known for harboring rare and narrowly distributed species of plants. The new species is readily distinguished from its congeners by its broadly alate petiole and rachis, creeping rhizome with widely spaced leaves, and large oblanceolate leaves with elongate and ascending pinnae. Three other species, C. curvata, C. discolor, and C. pearcei, share characteristics in common with C. spectabilis including thick sub-spongiose laminae that are sparsely setose (or setae absent), provided throughout with whitish waxy glands, alate petioles and rachises, setose rhizome scales that are also provided with a few whitish waxy glands, and sub-marginal sori. However, Ceradenia spectabilis can be distinguished from each of them by its longer petioles (4–6 cm long vs. 2 cm or less), broader petiole wings (2.5–3.5 mm wide vs. 0.5 cm or less), and longer pinnae (up to 10 cm long vs. 4 cm long or less). Ceradenia spectabilis is known only from the type, despite extensive investigations in herbaria housing large collections of Colombian ferns. This new species brings the total number of Ceradenia species in Colombia to 25, and ca. 74 world-wide.

Lycophyta and Polypodiophyta have been used by humans worldwide since ancient times, yet little has been documented. This paper analyzes and discusses the different uses of these plants in three Priority Terrestrial Regions (PTR) of conservation in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico. Our objectives were to: 1) document the traditional knowledge and uses of Lycophyta and Polypodiophyta among ethnic and mestizo groups; 2) analyze the variation in the use of taxa among these ethnic and mestizo groups, in terms of altitudinal distribution and type of vegetation in habitats supporting these species. Fifty species and two varieties of useful Lycophyta and Polypodiophyta from 29 genera and 15 families, were recorded. Mazatecs, Zapotecs, and Mixes are the ethnic groups with the greatest number of records of useful species from these taxonomic groups. More than 68% of such species are recognized with common names in the local languages. There are two conditions of useful plants: 1) among species used by at least four ethnic groups, how do the uses vary from two to four; 2) related to species with at least four categories of use, which are used by few ethnic groups. More than half of the species are named in at least one language, which reinforces the fact that species are recognized, valued, and important in people's daily lives, including traditional ceremonies, beliefs. Eight categories of use were documented, with medicinal, ornamental, and handcraft being the most represented. 80% of the useful Lycophyta and Polypodiophyta were distributed above 1000 masl, mainly in montane cloud forest, Quercus forest and Quercus-Pinus forest.

Although the montane forests of northern Myanmar are part of one of the most biodiverse areas of the world, our knowledge of species richness and elevational distribution of species within these forests is poor and scattered at both spatial and temporal scales. Over the last five decades, very few floristic assessments have been undertaken. This is especially true for ferns and lycophytes. An international collaborative project team undertook the first plot-based inventory of vascular plant species' elevational distribution in northern and northwestern Myanmar in 2012, 2013 and 2014. At elevational gradients in northern and north-western Myanmar, four 400 m² plots were sampled at intervals of 200 m in natural or little-disturbed forests and alpine thickets. We recorded all ferns and lycophytes from 132 plots, producing a total of 3,978 specimens. Based on these collections we present a list of fern and lycophyte species. A total of 299 species from 72 genera and 24 families were identified. This pilot project is a contribution to the upcoming Flora of Myanmar and provides a baseline dataset of the region to set priorities for conservation and the gazetting of protected areas.

We report on the occurrence of independent gametophytes of Didymoglossum petersii and both gametophytes and sporophytes of Vittaria graminifolia in the Broxton Rocks Preserve of southern Georgia. This is the first time sporophytes of V. graminifolia have been observed in the United States. In order to unambiguously identify both taxa, we extracted DNA for each. In the case of V. graminifolia, we used BLAST to compare our results to sequences in GenBank for two plastid loci (rbcL and rpoA) to determine its affinities. Because there are no GenBank data for D. petersii, it was necessary to collect an additional specimen of this species for comparison in a phylogenetic analysis. Results confirm the identity of each specimen and provide insight into the biogeographic history of D. petersii.