Phlegmariurus ledermannii

Lycopodiaceae

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

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/51347416

Queensland Black-Stemmed Tassel Fern

Habit epiphytic or lithophytic with erect, arching to pendulous, abruptly heterophyllous shoots. Sterile sections leafy; 9–24 mm in diameter, 20–180 cm long, forking 1–6 times, evenly ramified. Stems woody; 2–4 mm in diameter in basal module; dark reddish-brown to purplish-black basally, pale green distally; bearing fine to indistinct longitudinal grooves between flattened ridges bearing the leaves. Leaves firm to hard, minutely petiolate, obliquely twisted facing an upper plane, obtusely spreading; arranged in alternating sub-spirals of 3–6 basally and alternating sub-spirals whorls of 2–3 distally; ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 6–12 mm long x 2–4 mm wide, with a cuneate to obtuse base and sharply-acute apex, flat to recupped in cross section, entire margins, glossy mid-green to dark (drying a mid to reddish brown brown). Basal leaves mostly similar to mid and distal leaves. Fertile sections filiform to moniliform, terete; 1–2 mm in diameter and up to 450 mm long, forking 2–6 times, evenly ramified. Sporophylls scale like, adpressed; arranged in alternating sub-whorls of 2–3; ovate-deltoid, with a rounded base and acute apex; 1.5–2 mm long x 1–1.5 mm wide.

In Australia, this species is recorded from the mountains of the Wet Tropics between Mt Finnegan and Paluma, QLD. Occurs from New Guinea to New Caledonia.

Epiphytic from the trunk and branches of trees or lithophytic, usually in montane, submontane and gorge rainforest.