Asplenium athertonense

Aspleniaceae

Asplenium athertonense S.B.Andrews

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/119101

Rhizome short-creeping, scaly. Stipe and rachis red brown below, becoming green in upper half, scaly; stipe 3–18 cm long, 0.5–1.5 mm diam. Lamina 1–2-pinnate at base, narrowly ovate with long-acuminate apices, 7–25 cm long, 2–9 cm wide, pale green, thin, slightly scaly, often bearing a bulbil near the apex. Primary pinnae in 10–20 pairs, ovate or narrowly ovate; bases unequally cuneate, stalked; margins toothed; apices acute to obtuse; longest pinnae near base, 12–50 mm long, 5–18 mm wide; lower pinnae divided partly or wholly to the midrib into a single basal acroscopic lobe or secondary pinna; upper pinnae reducing to a ±linear pinnatifid apical segment. Sori to 7 mm long. Perispores dark with fimbriate wings and ±smooth lacunae; exospores 38.7–44 × 23.5–27.2 µm (means).

Endemic to NE QLD between the Mt Windsor Tableland and Evelyn Tableland.

Epiphytic or lithophytic near streams in high rainfall upland vine forest.