Compilation
Asplenium sandersonii

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Name

Identification
Asplenium sandersonii Hook. [family PTERIDOPHYTA ]
Related name
  • Asplenium sandersonii

Flora

Entry for Asplenium sandersonii Hook. [family ASPLENIACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (2008) Author: Henk Beentje
Names
Asplenium sandersonii Hook. [family ASPLENIACEAE], Sp. Fil. 3: 147, t. 179 (1860); Sim, Ferns S. Afr. ed. 2: 139, t. 43/1 (1915); Tardieu in Mém. Inst. Fr. Afr. Noire, 28: 175, t. 33/4–5 (1953); Schelpe, F.Z. Pteridophyta: 183, t. 53b (1970); Burrows, S. Afr. Ferns: 229, map, figs. (1990); Johns, Pterid. trop. East Africa checklist: 67 (1991); Faden in U.K.W.F. ed. 2: 27, t. 172 (1994). Type: South Africa, Natal, Field’s Hill, Sanderson s.n. (NH , holo.)
Asplenium vagans Baker [family ASPLENIACEAE], Syn. Fil.: 195 (1867); Alston, Ferns W.T.A.: 59 (1959). Syntypes: Sao Tomé, Mann s.n. (? not at K, syn. – see A. punctatum, below) and Madagascar, Meller s.n. (K!, syn.)
Asplenium debile Kuhn [family ASPLENIACEAE], Fil. Afr.: 101 (1868), non Fée (1865). Type: Comoro Is., Boivin s.n. (W, holo.)
Asplenium melleri Kuhn [family ASPLENIACEAE], Fil. Afr.: 106 (1868). Type: Madagascar, Meller s.n. (K!, holo.)
Asplenium punctatum Kuhn [family ASPLENIACEAE], Fil. Afr.: 114 (1868). Type: Sao Tomé, Mann s.n. (K, syn.) – this sheet which has vagans Bak. on the cover might be the same as the missing syntype of vagans
Asplenium hanningtonii Baker [family ASPLENIACEAE], in Journ. of Bot. 21: 245 (1883). Type: Tanzania, Usafwa Mts, Hannington s.n. comm. 1/83 Mitten (K!, holo.)
Asplenium comorense C.Chr. [family ASPLENIACEAE], Ind. Fil.: 105 (1906), nom. nov. Type as for A. debile Kuhn
Information
Gregarious epiphyte, the frond tips rooting at the tip to form dense colonies; rhizome erect to suberect, ± 3 mm diameter, with tufted fronds and with dark brown lanceolate-attenuate entire clathrate rhizome scales 2–3.5 mm long. Fronds arching, fleshy to coriaceous, 1-pinnate, proliferating with a bud at the end of a naked extension of the rachis; stipe straw-colored, 1–9 cm, sulcate when dry, glabrous except for occasional subulate clathrate scales up to 1.5 mm long. Lamina simply pinnate, 5–30x1.5–4 cm, pinnae in 12–23 pairs, shortly petiolate, rhombic-dimidiate to obliquely cuneate tending to half-moon-shaped; pinnae 0.6–2x0.3–1 cm, shallowly lobed into 2–9 entire obtuse lobes on the acroscopic margins, subglabrous with occasional minute brown stellate scales ± 0.5 mm diameter on the dorsal surface. Rachis straw-colored, with narrow green wings, set with sparse subulate brown scales and minute paler substellate scales. Sori brown, (1–)2–8 per pinna, oblong, to 3 mm long; indusium oblong, fimbriate, semi-transparent. Fig. 2: 9–10, p. 14.
Range
DISTR. U 1–4; K 1, 3–7; T 1–4, 6, 7 widespread in tropical and South Africa; Madagascar, Comoros
Altitude range
(680–)950–2650(–3100) m
Distribution
KENYA Northern Frontier District Ndoto Mts, Manmanet ridge, Oct. 1995, Bytebier & Kirrika 37!KENYA Kiambu District Kieni Forest, 8 km E of Kieni, June 1986, Beentje & Mungai 2919!KENYA Teita District Mt Kasigau, path from Rukanga, Apr. 1969, Faden et al. 69/470!TANZANIA Lushoto District Kenguruwe–Amani–Sigi Forest, July 1980, Ruffo & Mmari 2199!TANZANIA Morogoro District Mt Nguru ya Ndege, Sep. 1971, Pócs & Mwanjabe 6448L!TANZANIA Iringa District Mufindi, Lulanda, Jan. 1989, Gereau et al. 2928!UGANDA Kigezi District Bwindi Forest, Ishasha Gorge, Apr. 1998, Hafashimana 506!UGANDA Elgon, May 1997, Wesche 1339!UGANDA Mengo District Sezibwa [Ssezzibwa] falls 10 km W of Lugazi, Sep. 1969, Faden & Evans 69/980!
Notes
CONSERVATION Widespread; least concern (LC). Kuhn describes his A. debile as having a creeping rhizome, and does not mention the apex of the lamina; the same goes for his A. melleri; both were included in the synonymy of A. sandersonii by Schelpe. A. vagans Baker was described without having its leaf apex mentioned; it, too, was included under A. sandersonii by Schelpe. I have included these provisionally. Luke & Luke 5007 from T 7, Udzungwa Mts, Sonjo-Mwanihana route, 680 m, is a young sterile plant, but almost certainly this species; it is already budding at several leaf tips. It grows at a much lower altitude than normal in East Africa.

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