Species

Asplenium pumilum Sw.

Photo: JE. Burrows
Zimbabwe

Photo: P. Ballings
Zimbabwe

Synonyms	Asplenium eylesii Sim Asplenium pumilum Sw. subsp. hymenophylloides (Fée) Schelpe
Common name
Description	Rhizome 3-5 mm thick, erect, short; rhizome scales black with pale pseudoserrated margins, awl-shaped, up to 4.5 mm long, with long hair tip. Fronds tufted, not proliferous, erect, softly herbaceous. Stipe 2-10 cm, greenish above becoming dark brown below; stipe and rhachis are thinly covered with fine pale hair-like scales. Lamina 3-11 cm × 2-6(-12) cm, ovate to triangular in outline, 2-pinnatifid to 3-pinnatifid, basal pinnae the largest. Pinnae rhombic to narrowly triangular, up to 6 x 3 cm; lobes ovate to obcuneate, margins irregularly toothed, thinly pubescent on both surfaces mainly along the veins. Sori 2-10 per lobe, set at a slight angle to the costa, linear, 2-5 mm long; indusium entire to slightly erose, 0.3-0.6 mm wide.
Notes
Derivation	pumilum: dwarf, short; hymenophylloides: like Hymenophyllum, a genus of ferns with thin fronds.
Habitat	Shaded and seasonally moist situations in deciduous riverine forest and deciduous miombo woodland, banks of rivers and seasonal streams.
Distribution worldwide	Africa, Madagascar, north-western India, neotropics.
Distribution in Africa	Burundi , Ethiopia , Malawi , Sudan and South Sudan , Tanzania , Zambia , Zimbabwe .
Growth form	Lithophytic, terrestrial.
Literature	Beentje, H.J. (2008) Aspleniaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Pages 63 - 64. (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E. (1990) Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Page 255. (Includes a picture). Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Pages 352 - 353. (Includes a picture). 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 95. Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Pages 169 - 170. Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Page 178.