Compilation
Asplenium boltonii

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Name

Identification
Isotype of Asplenium boltonii Hook. ex Schelpe [family ASPLENIACEAE ] (stored under name); Isotype of Asplenium boltonii (Hook. ex Schelpe) Viane [family ASPLENIACEAE ] Verified by Viane,R.,
Related name
  • Asplenium gemmiferum
  • Asplenium boltonii
  • Asplenium anisophyllum

Flora

Entry for Asplenium boltonii Schelpe [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 boltonii Schelpe [family ASPLENIACEAE], in Bol. Soc. Brot. ser. 2, 41: 204 (1967) & F.Z. Pteridophyta: 173 (1970); Pic.Serm. in Webbia 37, 1: 133 (1983); Burrows, S. Afr. Ferns: 216, map, figs. (1990); Johns, Pterid. trop. East Africa checklist: 62 (1991); Faden in U.K.W.F. ed. 2: 28 (1994). Type: South Africa, Natal, Bolton s.n. (K!, holo., BM, iso.)
Asplenium anisophyllum var. b [family ASPLENIACEAE], ;Kunze in Linnaea 10: 512 (1836). Type: South Africa, near Philipstown at source of Kat River, June, Ecklon s.n. (herb. Kunze; not found at K, possible specimen at B sub Ecklon 30)
Asplenium anisophyllum Mett. var. elongatum [family ASPLENIACEAE], in Abh. Senckenb. Naturf. Ges. 3: 143 (1859) reimpr. in Mett., Farngatt., 6: 99 (1859) based on Asplenium anisophyllum Kunze var. b
Asplenium anisophyllum Hook. var. latifolium [family ASPLENIACEAE], Sp. Fil. 3: 111, t. 166 (1860) based on Asplenium anisophyllum Kunze var. b
Asplenium anisophyllum [family ASPLENIACEAE], sensu Sim, Ferns S. Afr. ed. 2: 151, t. 53 (1915); Tardieu, Fl. Madag.: 203, t. 27 fig. 9–10 (1958), non Kunze
Asplenium sp. B [family ASPLENIACEAE], of Johns, Pterid. trop. East Africa checklist: 68 (1991)
Information
Low-level epiphyte, less often lithophyte or terrestrial; rhizome erect or sometimes shortly creeping, fleshy, up to 2 cm diameter, branching on large plants, with brown linear-lanceolate scales with pale margins, entire, up to 18x2 mm at its base, composed of hyaline thin-walled cells. Fronds tufted, arching, 40–100 cm high, 1-pinnate, proliferous at the base of one of the apical pinnae. Stipe matt-grey-green, 10–26 cm long and 4 mm diameter, at first densely covered with reddish-brown hair-like scales up to 14 mm long, later becoming subglabrous. Lamina dull green, chartaceous, 1-pinnate, ovate-lanceolate, 33–80x8–22 cm, with the lowest pinnae slightly reduced. Pinnae in 13–28 pairs, lanceolate-attenuate, 4–10(–15)x1–1.5(–1.8) cm, base broad and unequally cuneate, the acroscopic part parallel to the rachis, margin incised 1/3 way to the costa into bilobed or bicrenate-serrate lobes, apex attenuate, glabrous above but with scattered hair-like scales below when young; veins forked. Rachis matt-grey-green, with some hair-like scales similar to those on the stipe. Sori several to many, elliptic when mature, 3–8 mm long, extending along the veins from near the costa to 1/2 or 2/3 the distance to the margin; indusium subelliptic, 1–1.5 mm broad, entire. Fig. 3: 4, p. 19.
Range
DISTR. U 2, 4; K 3–5, 7; T 2, 6, 7
Altitude range
1200–2750 m
Distribution
KENYA Fort Hall District Kimakia Forest Station, 8 km E on Njabini road, July 1969, Faden & Evans 69/895!KENYA Kericho District 5 km E of Kericho along Timbilil R., June 1972, Faden et al. 72/306!KENYA Teita District Taita Hills, Ngangao forest, May 1985, NMK Taita Hills Expedition 312!TANZANIA Kilimanjaro, above Mandera Hut, Oct. 1993, Grimshaw 93/868!TANZANIA Morogoro District Mwanihana Forest reserve, Oct. 1984, D.W. Thomas 3878!TANZANIA Njombe District Livingstone Mts, Madunda Mission, Feb. 1961, Richards 14095!UGANDA Ankole District Kalinzu forest, 4 km NW of sawmill, Sep. 1969, Faden et al. 69/1160!UGANDA Kigezi District Bwindi forest, Ihihizo, Aug. 1998, Hafashimana 779!UGANDA Mengo District Kiwala, Apr. 1916, Dummer 2803!
Distribution (external)
Congo-Kinshasa
Malawi
Zambia
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Madagascar
Réunion
Notes
CONSERVATION Widespread; least concern (LC). There has been confusion over the authority of the name, but despite Pichi Sermolli’s arguments (loc.cit.) I believe Schelpe was the first to publish the name correctly. Brause & Hieron. in Z.A.E.: 8 (1910) merely repeated the non-publication of the name in Baker’s Syn. Fil.: 204 (1874). I agree with Faden that this resembles the much commoner A. smedsii and that it differs only in having gemmae on the fronds. Burrows (loc. cit.) states that the occurrence of gemmae on the fronds varies in different areas. This is certainly true for East Africa, at the norther end of the species’ range. In quite similar-looking plants from Ngangao forest, K 7, gemmae may be present or absent; Faden states in his 69/895 from K 4 that the whole population lacked gemmae – possibly the reason why Johns in his checklist split off this collection and Verdcourt 2988 as ‘species B’. Relationships between these two taxa (boltonii and smedsii) need to be cleared up. In the Berlin herbarium there were several sheets of this taxon named A. anisophyllum Kunze var. microphylla, a name on which I have been unable to find any information. Similarly specimens of A. boltonii were named A. deckenii Hieron. with as ‘type’ a specimen from Tanzania, Kilimajaro, Dschagga, 5500’–7800’, leg. Kersten anno 1864 in von der Decken 27 (and possibly 28). Again I have found no publications in which this name is mentioned.

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