Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes - Online edition

Phlegmariurus delbrueckii


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Close up of frond showing sporophyll. © CSIRO
Habit. © CSIRO
Habit © A.R. Field
Habit © A.R. Field
Habit. © CSIRO
Family

Lycopodiaceae

Botanical name

Phlegmariurus delbrueckii (Herter) A.R.Field & Bostock

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/51288377

Common name

Tea-Leaf Tassel-Fern

Description

Epiphytic plants. Branches tufted, pendulous, branched 1–several times, to 60 cm long; sterile portion (including leaves) 1–1.5 cm diam. Leaves arranged in 4 rows, thin, firm, angled at 45–90° to axis, ovate, obtuse, entire, 5–7 mm long, 1.8–3 mm wide, pale green to yellowish green. Transition from sterile to sporogenous zone abrupt. Sporogenous zone 5–25 cm long, 2–3 mm diam., 1–several times forked. Sporophylls ovate-rhomboidal, acute, keeled, pouched at base, opposite, decussate, imbricate, 2.5–3.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide. Sporangia one-third to half the sporophyll length. 

Distribution

In QLD between the Windsor Tableland and Kirrama Range, usually above 800 m. Also in Asia and the Pacific.

Habit and habitat

A canopy epiphyte or lithophyte in montane rainforest.

Cultivation

Difficult to cultivate outside of its natural range or habitat. Plants can be grown in shallow hanging containers in a cool moist tropical fernery.

Similar species

Can be distinguished from other Australian Phlegmariurus by the oval shaped lycophylls with a blunt apex.

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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