Asplenium - Aspleniaceae

Asplenium buettneri Hieron.

Photo: JE. Burrows
Malawi

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

 

 

 

 

Synonyms

Asplenium parablastophorum A.F. Braithw.

Common name

Description

Rhizome thin, up to 4 mm thick, creeping or erect; rhizome scales dark brown, entire, subulate, up to 2-5 x 0.3-0.6 mm, apex gradually tapering, ending in a hair-point. Fronds clearly spaced apart, erect, glabrous, not proliferous, thinly coriaceous to thinly herbaceous. Stipe 6-37 cm, dull brown to black at least at the base, scales dark to mid brown. Lamina 8-26(-30) × 4-15(-18) cm, 2-pinnate to 3-pinnatisect on the lower pinnae, basal pinnae not or hardly reduced, triangular-ovate in outline. Pinnules elongate-obcuneate in outline, base asymmetrical, margins toothed, venation flabellate. Rhachis very dark to almost black dorsally, green and grooved ventrally, not or sometimes narrowly winged, with brown lanceolate scales up to 1.5 mm long. Sori 3-13 mm long, linear, set along the veins, with more than one per lobe; indusium entire, lineair, membranous, 0.4 mm wide.

Notes

Differs from similar species by having a very thin rhizome and almost black stipe and rhachis.
F.T.E.A. distinguishes var. buettneri (rhizome short-creeping to erect, fronds tufted, rhizome scales 0.4-0.6 mm wide) and var. hildebrandtii (long creeping rhizome, fronds clearly spaced, rhizome scales narrow, to 0.3 mm wide).

Derivation

buettneri: named after O.A.R. Büttner, a German plant collector.

Habitat

Moist evergreen montane forest, riverine forest, rock crevices, deciduous miombo woodland.

Distribution worldwide

Distribution in Africa

Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania , Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Growth form

Epiphytic, lithophytic, terrestrial.

Literature

  • Beentje, H.J. (2008) Aspleniaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Pages 59 - 60. (Includes a picture).
  • Burrows, J.E. (1990) Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Pages 251 - 252. (Includes a picture).
  • Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Pages 362 - 363. (Includes a picture).
  • Kornas, J. (1979) Distribution and ecology of the Pteridophytes in Zambia. Polska Akademia Nauk Wydzial II Nauk Biologicznych. Page 97.
  • Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Page 163.
  • Roux, J.P. (2009) Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Pages 80 - 81.
  • Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Pages 182 - 183.
  • Tardieu-Blot, M.-L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.3.Flore du Cameroun, Page 215. (Includes a picture).
  • Thardieu-Blot, M.L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.8.Flore du Gabon, Pages 139 - 140. (Includes a picture).
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