Phlegmariurus pinifolius

Lycopodiaceae

Phlegmariurus pinifolius (Trevis.) Kiew

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/51347439

 Queensland Gold-Tip Tassel Fern

Habit epiphytic or lithophytic with erect, arching to pendulous, abruptly heterophyllous shoots. Sterile sections leafy, confertifoliose; 12–34 mm in diameter, 15–90 cm long, forking 1–8 times, evenly ramified. Stems fleshy to woody; 3–6 mm in diameter in basal module; reddish-brown basally, pale whitish green distally; bearing longitudinal grooves between fine domed ridges bearing the leaves. Leaves soft to moderately-firm, very minutely petiolate, obliquely twisted facing an upper plane, obtusely spreading; arranged in dense alternating sub-spirals of 4–7 basally and alternating sub-spirals whorls of 2–4 distally; lanceolate, 9–18 mm long x 2–4 mm wide, with a cuneate to obtuse base and acute to acuminate apex, flat in cross section with, entire margins, glossy dark-green when mature, pale whitish-green when emerging at the shoot apex. Basal leaves mostly similar to mid and distal leaves. Fertile sections filiform, quadrangular; 1–3 mm in diameter and up to 200 mm long, forking 1–3 times, evenly ramified. Sporophylls scale like, adpressed; arranged in alternating sub-whorls of 2; ovate-deltoid, with an acute-acuminate apex; 1.5–4 mm long x 1–2.5 mm wide.

Recorded from a limited area of the Wet Tropics between Mt Finnegan and the Cardwell Range in QLD. Widespread but scarce in Asia and Oceania.

Epiphytic in the subcanopy or a lithophyte on boulders in montane rainforest, especially near watercourses in gorges and near waterfalls. Now very rare.

Readily cultivated in a hanging container of coarse free draining mix in a tropical or subtropical moist shaded garden or fernery. This is probably the easiest species to grow and many cultivars are grown.