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Ophioglossum lusoafricanum Welw. ex Prantl [family OPHIOGLOSSACEAE]

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Swaziland ferns and fern allies
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Swaziland Ferns and Fern Allies, (2003) Author: J.P. Roux
Names
Ophioglossum lusoafricanum Welw. ex Prantl [family OPHIOGLOSSACEAE]
Common names
Ophioglossum lancifolium sensu Schelpe & Anthony, Fl. S. Afr., Pterid.: 35 (1986). lusus = a variant; africanum = from Africa.
Information
Plants terrestrial. Rhizome linear, erect, to 28 mm long, to 2 mm in diameter; roots few, fleshy, subhorizontal, proliferous. Leaves single, rarely two; stipe to 50% subterranean, to 80 mm long, old stipe bases not persistent; tropophore firmly herbaceous, green, held at ±60-90° from the horizontal, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, narrowly cuneate to attenuate, acute, apiculate, flat to canaliculate adaxially, to 35 mm long, to 5 mm wide. Venation reticulate. Sporophore to 130 mm long, with up to 16 sporangium pairs, apiculus acute. Spores globose, alete or trilete, muri reticulate, narrow, lumina flat-bottomed, of variable diameter, granules lacking, 42-60 (m in equatorial diameter. Figure 8A.
Habitat
Ecology: Terrestrial, sheltered among grass tussocks in moist submontane grasslands. Not edaphically bound. Geophyte, mesophyte; leaves mesomorphic, short-lived, from about November to May, deciduous. Vegetative reproduction by the formation of rootbuds. Seasonal pattern pronounced, fertile material collected in March and May.
Range
Distribution: Within Swaziland the species appears to be confined to the submontane grasslands along the western parts of the country, occurring at altitudes between 1 100 and 1 300 m. The species also occurs in east and south tropical Africa, and the eastern parts of southern Africa with outlying populations on the Angolan highlands.

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Swaziland ferns and fern allies
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Swaziland Ferns and Fern Allies, (2003) Author: J.P. Roux
Names
Ophioglossum lusoafricanum Welw. ex Prantl [family OPHIOGLOSSACEAE]
Common names
Ophioglossum lancifolium sensu Schelpe & Anthony, Fl. S. Afr., Pterid.: 35 (1986). lusus = a variant; africanum = from Africa.
Information
Plants terrestrial. Rhizome linear, erect, to 28 mm long, to 2 mm in diameter; roots few, fleshy, subhorizontal, proliferous. Leaves single, rarely two; stipe to 50% subterranean, to 80 mm long, old stipe bases not persistent; tropophore firmly herbaceous, green, held at ±60-90° from the horizontal, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, narrowly cuneate to attenuate, acute, apiculate, flat to canaliculate adaxially, to 35 mm long, to 5 mm wide. Venation reticulate. Sporophore to 130 mm long, with up to 16 sporangium pairs, apiculus acute. Spores globose, alete or trilete, muri reticulate, narrow, lumina flat-bottomed, of variable diameter, granules lacking, 42-60 (m in equatorial diameter. Figure 8A.
Habitat
Ecology: Terrestrial, sheltered among grass tussocks in moist submontane grasslands. Not edaphically bound. Geophyte, mesophyte; leaves mesomorphic, short-lived, from about November to May, deciduous. Vegetative reproduction by the formation of rootbuds. Seasonal pattern pronounced, fertile material collected in March and May.
Range
Distribution: Within Swaziland the species appears to be confined to the submontane grasslands along the western parts of the country, occurring at altitudes between 1 100 and 1 300 m. The species also occurs in east and south tropical Africa, and the eastern parts of southern Africa with outlying populations on the Angolan highlands.
Ophioglossum lusoafricanum Welw. ex Prantl [family OPHIOGLOSSACEAE]
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