| Pteridophyte | Literature for Asplenium polyodon
Brownsey, 1998. |
| Aspleniaceae -- The Spleenwort Family | Bibliography |
| Asplenium polyodon | |
Common name(s): spleenwort, punana manu |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Southern tropics from Madagascar and tropical Asia through Australia and the Pacific region but not in South America.In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Terrestrial or sometimes epipetric or epiphytic. Rhizomes short-creeping, 0.8–1.5 cm in diameter, densely covered with scales; scales of rhizome and stipe base 3–4 mm long, 0.5–0.8 mm wide, dark brown, glossy, lanceolate, with slender hairlike tip. |
|
| Leaves |
Fronds semi-erect or pendent, 22–130 cm long, spaced to 1 cm apart; stipe 9–65 cm long, 1–3 mm in diameter, dark brown, moderately scaly proximally to glabrate; blade 1-pinnate to 1-pinnate pinnatisect, rarely 2-pinnate in basal pinnae of large fronds, 15–120 cm long, 4.5–26 cm wide, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, apex pinnatifid, acute, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, dark green and glossy above, paler beneath; pinnae (8-)10–30 on each side, short-stalked, alternate, sometimes subfalcate, narrowly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, longest pinnae near middle, 6–10 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, basal pinnae often with enlarged obovate-oblong or fan-shaped basal acroscopic lobe, distal pinnae less deeply cut, apex acuminate, margin doubly serrate with small, obtuse teeth; veins forking 1–4 times, nearly parallel to costae proximally, curving away from costae distally, ending in marginal teeth. |
|
| Sori |
Sori variable, 3–5 mm long, 2–7 per pinna, basally subparallel to costae, distally curved and divergent from costae, reaching to 1/3–2/3 way to margin; indusium thin, narrow, pale green, acute at both ends. |
|
| Notes |
Marquesan material resembles and is consistent with specimens from W. Polynesia (e.g., Samoa and Tonga). However, a collection from Nuku Hiva (Wood 4604)resembles A. contiguum Kaulf. (endemic to Hawaiian Is.) in having sori mostly close to and parallel with costae. |
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| Contributor |
David Lorence |