Asplenium - Aspleniaceae

Asplenium mannii Hook.

Photo: BT. Wursten
Zimbabwe

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

Photo: P. Ballings
Mozambique

Photo: P. Ballings
Malawi

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

 

 

 

 

Synonyms

Loxoscaphe mannii sensu Kuhn
Lindsaea mannii (Hook.) Hillebr.

Common name

Description

Rhizome short, erect, up to 3 mm thick; rhizome scales dark brown, triangular in outline, subentire, clathrate, acute. Fronds tufted, some with gemmae born at the tip of a long bare stolon-like rhachis.  Stipe up to 6.5 cm long, hairless. Lamina up to 6 × 2.5 cm, pinnate to 2-pinnate at the base, lanceolate in outline. Pinnae up to 6 pairs, hairless, narrowly spathulate, entire. Rhachis hairless, narrowly winged in upper half of the frond. Sori solitary, 1.5-2.5 mm long, oval, situated at the end of each pinna lobe, surrounded by the lamina of the lobe and not marginal; indusium subentire, oblong, membranous, 0.5-1 mm wide.

Notes

Very recognizable by its small size and stoloniferous habit.

Derivation

mannii: named after Gustav Mann, a German botanist & plant collector.

Habitat

Shade in moist forest.

Distribution worldwide

See African distribution.

Distribution in Africa

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania , Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Growth form

Epiphytic.

Literature

  • Beentje, H.J. (2008) Aspleniaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Page 40. (Includes a picture).
  • Burrows, J.E. (1990) Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Page 239. (Includes a picture).
  • Fisher E. & Killmann D. (2008) Illustrated Field guide to the Plants of Nyungwe National Park Rwanda. University of Koblenz-Landau. Pages 66 - 67. (Includes a picture).
  • Fisher E. & Lobin W. (2024) Checklist of Lycopodiopsida (clubmosses and quillworts) and Polypodiopsida (ferns) of Rwanda.Willdenowia, 53 Page 156.
  • Fisher, E. & Lobin, W. (2023) Synoptic Revision of Aspleniaceae (Asplenium, Hymenasplenium) of Rwanda.Phytotaxa, 608 (1) Pages 21 - 24.
  • Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Pages 376 - 377. (Includes a picture).
  • Kornas, J. (1979) Distribution and ecology of the Pteridophytes in Zambia. Polska Akademia Nauk Wydzial II Nauk Biologicznych. Pages 100 - 101.
  • Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Pages 167 - 168.
  • 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 90.
  • Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Page 187. (Includes a picture).
  • Tardieu-Blot, M.-L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.3.Flore du Cameroun, Pages 224 - 225. (Includes a picture).

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