The Color of Childhood: The Role of the Child/Human Binary in the Production of Anti-Black Racism

The binary between the figure of the child and the fully human being is invoked with regularity in analyses of race, yet its centrality to the conception of race has never been fully explored. For most commentators, the figure of the child operates as a metaphoric or rhetorical trope, a non-essential strategic tool in the perpetuation of White supremacy. As I show in the following, the child/human binary does not present a contingent or merely rhetorical construction but, rather, a central feature of racialization. Where Black peoples are situated as objects of violence it is often precisely because Blackness has been identified with childhood and childhood is historically identified as the archetypal site of naturalized violence and servitude. I proceed by offering a historical account of how Black peoples came to inherit the subordination and dehumanization of European childhood and how White youth were subsequently spared through their partial categorization as adults

Three new Andean species of Hymenophyllum (Hymenophyllaceae–Pteridophyta)

We describe Hymenophyllum apteryx M. Kessler & Sundue, H. assurgens M. Kessler & A.R. Sm. and H. latisorum M. Kessler & A.R. Sm. as new to science

Ascogrammitis lehnertii (Polypodiaceae): A New and Dominant Understory-Species from a Diverse Community of Grammitid Ferns in the Andes of Ecuador

In the scope of pantropical studies aimed at understanding how the diversity of grammitid ferns (Polypodiaceae) has evolved and is maintained, we studied a diverse grammitid community in treeline elfin forests in eight study plots of 400 m2 each at 3200 m on Cerro Toledo, Loja, southern Ecuador. We recorded a total of 7986 individuals of 16 grammitid species. Ascogrammitis lehnertii is here described as a new species. We also recorded Mycopteris leucosticta, a species previously believed to be restricted to the Choc ´o region of Ecuador. We found that the grammitid species were segregated by habitat into trunk-base and trunk specialists, which suggests that species coexistence in these diverse epiphytic communities is at least partly linked to habitat segregation. Ascogrammitis lehnertii and M. leucosticta were the second and third most abundant species, respectively, and both were mostly trunk-base species. The new species A. lehnertii differs from its congeners by the combination of its relatively broad lamina, (2–)3–4 cm wide, fertile leaves bearing 2 mm long reddish setae in and near the sori, and by bearing proliferous roots from which new plants emerge. Phylogenetic analyses of atpß,rbcL, rps4, trnG-trnR, and trnL-trnF DNA molecular sequences, using maximum likelihood, place A. lehnertii as sister to A. cuencana with strong support. Despite previous intensive collection efforts in Loja for the past 30 yr, all but one of the collections of this new species were made in the last three years. The discovery of A. lehnertii and the new record of M. leucosticta highlight the patchy distribution of some species in the Andes and the value of surveying habitats that potentially host unrecognized plant diversity. In order to facilitate further discovery, we provide a key to all species of Ascogrammitis

Alansmia, a new genus of grammitid ferns (Polypodiaceae) segregated from Terpsichore

Alansmia, a new genus of grammitid ferns is described and combinations are made for the 26 species known to belong to it. Alansmia is supported by five morphological synapomorphies: setae present on the rhizomes, cells of the rhizome scales turgid, both surfaces of the rhizome scales ciliate, laminae membranaceous, and sporangial capsules setose. Other diagnostic characters include pendent fronds with indeterminate growth, concolorous, orange to castaneous rhizome scales with ciliate or sometimes glandular margins, hydathodes often cretaceous, and setae simple, paired or stellate. The group also exhibits the uncommon characteristic of producing both trilete and apparently monolete spores, sometimes on the same plant. New combinations are made for Alansmia alfaroi, A. bradeana, A. canescens, A. concinna, A. contacta, A. cultrata, A. dependens, A. diaphana, A. elastica, A. glandulifera, A. heteromorpha, A. immixta, A. kirkii, A. lanigera, A. laxa, A. longa, A. monosora, A. reclinata, A. semilunaris, A. senilis, A. smithii, A. spathulata, A. stella var. stella, A. stella var. flava, A. turrialbae, A. variabilis, A. xanthotrichia. Lectotypifications are made for Alansmia concina, A. variabilis, Polypodium ciliare, P. flexile, and P. ovalescens. The genus is named in honor of pteridologist Alan R. Smith

An annotated checklist of lycophytes and ferns of the Solomon Islands

We provide an annotated checklist of all known lycophytes and ferns in the Solomon Islands following an updated classification. It comprises two classes, 12 orders, 34 families, 122 genera, 449 species, and six infraspecific taxa, including 10 new species described here and 18 species newly recorded for the country. In addition, we make six new nomenclatural combinations as well as 53 lectotypifications. We include a discussion of type status, taxonomic uncertainty, and recent molecular phylogenetic research when relevant. The life forms and phytogeographic affinities of all species are presented and briefly discussed