Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes - Online edition

Hymenophyllum samoense


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Close up of frond showing sori. © CSIRO
Close up of frond showing sori. © G. Sankowsky
Frond. © G. Sankowsky
Habit. © G. Sankowsky
Family

Hymenophyllaceae

Botanical name

Hymenophyllum samoense Baker

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/80483

Description

Rhizome slender, glabrescent. Fronds 4–20 cm long. Stipe 1–5.5 cm long, winged in the upper half to three-quarters; wing undulate or crisped. Lamina oblong, deeply 3-pinnatifid, with some segments again forked, 3–15 cm long, 3–4.5 cm wide, glabrous; wing of main rachis plane to crisped, entire. Ultimate segments 5–8 mm long, 0.8–2 mm wide, obscurely toothed; teeth most prominent near segment apices, occasionally entire. Sori numerous, often in adjacent pairs, borne on apices of lateral ultimate segments, with sterile apex of each primary pinna normally projecting beyond outermost sori of the pinna; involucre oval to oblong, bilabiate, divided almost to the base, 1.5–2 mm long, 0.8–2 mm wide, as wide as or wider than the segments; margins entire to irregularly toothed; receptacle included. 

Distribution

Occurs in NE QLD between Mt Finnegan and Paluma. Also in the Pacific Islands.

Habit and habitat

Epiphytic on tree trunks or lithophytic on granite boulders close to streams in montane rainforest.

Similar species

Easily confused with (and probably conspecific with) Hymenophyllum javanicum which can be distinguished by the stipe being winged almost to the base (cf. winged only in the upper half to three-quarters in H. samoense).

Citation of Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes

Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/intro/index.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).

Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) ‘Platycerium superbum’, in Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/entities/platycerium_superbum.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).

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