Plants were obtained in the field, from a site in the Department of Lima,
Province Can˜ ete, in the Mala river basin, above the town of Calango
(12u31917.540S, 76u3091.110W), at near 400 m elevation (Fig. 1A–B; Fig. 2),
where climate conditions are hyper-arid (Rundel et al., 2007). They were
present as small, undeveloped gametophytes and very young sporophytes.
Plants and their surrounding soil were collected and maintained in a plasticcovered
container for nearly 5 months, from August 2011 until February 2012.
Two samples were taken in November 2011 to prepare herbarium vouchers
and to extract DNA. Plants did not survive past February 2012.