Species

Lonchitis occidentalis Baker

Photo: C. Jongkind
Guinea

Synonyms	Antiosorus occidentalis (Baker) Kuhn Anisorus occidentalis (Baker) C.Chr. Pteris glaberrima Mett. ex Kuhn Lonchitis friesii Brause
Common name
Description	Rhizome short- to long-creeping, ± succulent, c.6 mm in diameter when dry, with pale brown hairs c. 1 mm long. Stipe straw-coloured to red or purple, thick, 12–50 cm long, with scattered pale hairs c. 1 mm long. Fronds 1–2 cm apart. Lamina somewhat fleshy, 18–50 cm long, pinnate-pinnatifid to bipinnate-tripinnatifid, oblong to deltate in outline, apex tapering to a point. Pinnae opposite or subopposite, oblong in outline, 8.5-25(–45) × 2.1-15(–25) cm wide, lower ones petiolate, upper ones sessile and adnate, with short hairs set along the costae, rhachis and costules, veins mostly free, ultimate lobes rounded. Sori marginal, ± 2 mm long, linear or curved, borne in and around sinuses of ultimate segments; indusium pale, hairless, membranous.
Notes
Derivation	occidentalis: occidental, western.
Habitat	Stream sides or spray of waterfalls in evergreen forest, Cyathea forest, swampy places, granite rocks in stream valleys, roadside banks.
Distribution worldwide	Tropical Africa and Madagascan region.
Distribution in Africa	Angola , Cameroon , Central African Republic , Dem. Republic of Congo , Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ghana , Guinea , Liberia , Nigeria , Tanzania , Uganda , Zambia .
Growth form	Terrestrial.
Literature	Kornas, J. (1979) Distribution and ecology of the Pteridophytes in Zambia. Polska Akademia Nauk Wydzial II Nauk Biologicznych. Page 85. Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Page 94. 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 143. Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Pages 86 - 87. (Includes a picture). Thardieu-Blot, M.L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.8.Flore du Gabon, Pages 78 - 79. As Anisorus occidentalis (Bak.) C.Chr. (Includes a picture). Verdcourt, B. (1999) Dennstaedtiaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Page 26. (Includes a picture).