Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes - Online edition

Pyrrosia lanceolata


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

Polypodiaceae

Botanical name

Pyrrosia lanceolata (L.) Farw.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/116262

Description

Rhizome long-creeping, branched, c. 1.5–3 mm diam. Scales narrowly ovate, appressed, 1.2–5 mm long, 0.3–1 mm wide, with a long fragile hair-like apex, dark brown with pale ciliate margins. Stipes scattered, (0–) 0.5–4 cm long, sparsely hairy. Fronds dimorphic, fleshy, glossy above; adult fronds ±glabrescent, sometimes sparsely hairy below; midrib prominent below; other veins ±visible. Sterile lamina narrowly obovate to obovate or spathulate, occasionally narrowly ovate or narrowly elliptic, c. 3–12.5 cm long, 1–2.8 cm wide; base cuneate, tapering gradually into winged stipe; apex broadly rounded. Fertile lamina c. 5.5–17 cm long; lower part c. 0.5–2 cm wide, gradually tapering into winged stipe, often ±abruptly narrowed above; fertile part ±linear, c. 0.4–0.8 cm wide; apex ±obtuse. Sori round, to c. 1 mm diam., closely packed in rows corresponding to areoles, extending from midrib to margin, usually in distinct groups between main lateral veins when young, confined to upper one-third to two-thirds of the lamina. Spores 42.5–75 µm long, 20–45 µm wide, irregularly verrucose to distinctly bisculptate

Distribution

Occurs in the eastern coast of northern Cape York Peninsula in NE QLD. Also widespread in Asia, Malesia and the Pacific Islands.

Habit and habitat

Epiphytic or lithophytic in lowland and lower montane vine forest, often in boulder pile vine forest.

Natural history

A drought tolerant species expressing CAM photosynthesis.

Cultivation

Easily cultivated in a pot, on a slab or on a tree in a moist tropical garden.

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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