Species

Cochlidium serrulatum (Sw.) L.E. Bishop

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

Synonyms	Grammitis serrulata (Sw.) Sw. Xiphopteris serrulata (Sw.) Kaulf. Acrostichum serrulatum Sw. Polypodium duale Maxon Polypodium serrulatum (Sw.) Mett.
Common name
Description	Rhizome erect, up to 1 mm thick; rhizome scales brown, lanceolate in outline, up to 1 mm long. Fronds tufted, erect, firmly membranous, subsessile, fertile fronds longer than sterile fronds. Stipe very short, brown, glabrous. Lamina up to 35 × 2 mm, glabrous, linear to very narrow oblanceolate in outline, base long tapering, apex broadly acute to rounded, deeply pinnatifid about halfway to the midrib into acute triangular or oblong obtuse lobes each with a single conspicuous vein, midrib immersed. Sori 6-8 per frond, borne on the veins in the widened upper third part of the frond, fusing to form a soral mass at maturity.
Notes	Can be distinguished from other species by its simple toothed fronds.
Derivation	serrulata: finely toothed, referring to the margins of this species.
Habitat	Quartzite boulders in low-altitude evergreen forest.
Distribution worldwide	Africa, Madagascar.
Distribution in Africa	Cameroon , Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon , Guinea , Ivory Coast , Liberia , Rwanda , Sierra Leone , Zimbabwe .
Growth form	Epiphytic, lithophytic.
Literature	Burrows, J.E. (1990) Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Page 187. As Grammitis serrulata (Includes a picture). Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Page 299. As Xiphopteris serrulata (Includes a picture). Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Pages 108 - 109. Roux, J.P. (2009) Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Page 152. Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Page 144. As Xiphopteris serrulata Tardieu-Blot, M.-L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.3.Flore du Cameroun, Page 325. (Includes a picture). Thardieu-Blot, M.L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.8.Flore du Gabon, Page 192. (Includes a picture).