Edit History
Pellaea calomelanos (Sw.) Link var calomelanos [family PTERIDACEAE]
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
Pellaea calomelanos (Sw.) Link var calomelanos [family PTERIDACEAE]
Common names
calomelanos = beautifully dark
Vernacular names: Hard fern; Blou-groen bergvaring (Afr.); Pata-leoana, Lepata-maoa, Phatšoa-kammoho (Ses.); Umphasatje (Sis.); Phaladza (Zulu)
Information
Plants terrestrial or epilithic. Rhizome short-decumbent, closely branched, densely set with roots, crowded stipe bases, hairs, and scales, hairs pluricellular, uniseriate, terminating in an oblong thin-walled cell, to 3 mm long, scales concolorous or bicolorous, concolorous scales chartaceus, ferrugineus, bicolorous scales with a crustaceous, castaneus central region, margins chartaceus, ferrugineus, adnate, subulate, apex terminates in a subulate cell or a thin-walled pyriform cell, to 10 mm long, to 1 mm wide. Fronds crowded, caespitose, erect, to 410 mm long, up to 12 per plant; stipe rigid, atrocastaneus to black, nitid, terete, to 150 mm long, to 2 mm in diameter, initially set with hairs and scales similar to those on the rhizome, glabrous later; lamina anadromous, firmly herbaceous to coriaceus, ovate to deltate, to 3-pinnate, to 340 mm long, to 145 mm wide, with up to 13 pinna pairs; rachis and lower order axes rigid, atrocastaneus to black, nitid, terete, glabrous; pinnae petiolate, petiole to 13 mm long, alternate, proximally more widely spaced than distally, overlapping, to 2-pinnate, lower pinnae often basiscopically developed, ovate to rectangular-acute, to 110 mm long, to 50 mm wide, with up to 6 pinnule pairs; pinnules petiolate, petiole to 5 mm long, alternate, spaced to overlapping, to 1-pinnate, ovate, to 45 mm long, to 22 mm wide, with up to 2 segment pairs; segments petiolate, petiole to 1.5 mm long, coriaceus, usually glaucous, alternate, cordate, hastate or pentagonal, entire, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, to 20 mm long, to 20 mm wide, articulated. Venation obscure, repeatedly forked, free in sterile segments. Sori form a continuous line along a marginal vascular commissure; receptacle with 3 to 4-celled, clavate paraphyses, to 0.3 mm long; sporangium long-stalked, simple, 3-seriate below capsule, capsule obovate in lateral view, with (13-)15(-16) indurated annulus cells, epistomium (5-)6(-7)-celled, hypostomium (3-)3(-5)-celled, stomium with 4 to 5 narrow cells with conspicuously thickened walls; indusium membranous, continuous, marginal, entire to shallowly crenulate, to 0.4 mm wide. Spores 32 per sporangium, brown, globose, trilete, rugulose, exospore (46-)52.1(-56) (m in equatorial diameter. Figure 19A & B.
Habitat
Ecology: Terrestrial or epilithic, at boulder bases, in rock cervices, or in shallow soil pockets overlaying sheet rock, in exposed or partially shaded conditions. Not edaphically bound. Hemicryptophyte, xerophyte; fronds xeromorphic. Vegetative reproduction by the short, closely branched rhizome which often results in the formation of small clonal stands. Seasonal pattern pronounced, with new growth taking place during the rainy season only. May go dormant during prolonged periods of drought, segments articulated. Pyrophytic.
Use
Uses: The species appear to be widely used for a variety of ailments. A decoction of the rhizome is used to relieve boils and mouth sores, whilst the boiled rhizome is used externally to cure sores. A milky decoction is given to frightened children at night, whilst the Xhosa, Zulu, and Sesotho smoke the fronds to relieve head and chest colds (Hutchings et al. 1996; Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962). The fronds are also ground and drunk as a cure for diarrhoea (Zepp 1982).
Range
Distribution: Common and widespread throughout Swaziland, occurring between 400 and 1 400 m. The species is widespread in west central tropical Africa, east tropical, south tropical and southern Africa, and the western Indian Ocean region.
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
Pellaea calomelanos (Sw.) Link var calomelanos [family PTERIDACEAE]
Common names
calomelanos = beautifully dark
Vernacular names: Hard fern; Blou-groen bergvaring (Afr.); Pata-leoana, Lepata-maoa, Phatšoa-kammoho (Ses.); Umphasatje (Sis.); Phaladza (Zulu)
Information
Plants terrestrial or epilithic. Rhizome short-decumbent, closely branched, densely set with roots, crowded stipe bases, hairs, and scales, hairs pluricellular, uniseriate, terminating in an oblong thin-walled cell, to 3 mm long, scales concolorous or bicolorous, concolorous scales chartaceus, ferrugineus, bicolorous scales with a crustaceous, castaneus central region, margins chartaceus, ferrugineus, adnate, subulate, apex terminates in a subulate cell or a thin-walled pyriform cell, to 10 mm long, to 1 mm wide. Fronds crowded, caespitose, erect, to 410 mm long, up to 12 per plant; stipe rigid, atrocastaneus to black, nitid, terete, to 150 mm long, to 2 mm in diameter, initially set with hairs and scales similar to those on the rhizome, glabrous later; lamina anadromous, firmly herbaceous to coriaceus, ovate to deltate, to 3-pinnate, to 340 mm long, to 145 mm wide, with up to 13 pinna pairs; rachis and lower order axes rigid, atrocastaneus to black, nitid, terete, glabrous; pinnae petiolate, petiole to 13 mm long, alternate, proximally more widely spaced than distally, overlapping, to 2-pinnate, lower pinnae often basiscopically developed, ovate to rectangular-acute, to 110 mm long, to 50 mm wide, with up to 6 pinnule pairs; pinnules petiolate, petiole to 5 mm long, alternate, spaced to overlapping, to 1-pinnate, ovate, to 45 mm long, to 22 mm wide, with up to 2 segment pairs; segments petiolate, petiole to 1.5 mm long, coriaceus, usually glaucous, alternate, cordate, hastate or pentagonal, entire, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, to 20 mm long, to 20 mm wide, articulated. Venation obscure, repeatedly forked, free in sterile segments. Sori form a continuous line along a marginal vascular commissure; receptacle with 3 to 4-celled, clavate paraphyses, to 0.3 mm long; sporangium long-stalked, simple, 3-seriate below capsule, capsule obovate in lateral view, with (13-)15(-16) indurated annulus cells, epistomium (5-)6(-7)-celled, hypostomium (3-)3(-5)-celled, stomium with 4 to 5 narrow cells with conspicuously thickened walls; indusium membranous, continuous, marginal, entire to shallowly crenulate, to 0.4 mm wide. Spores 32 per sporangium, brown, globose, trilete, rugulose, exospore (46-)52.1(-56) (m in equatorial diameter. Figure 19A & B.
Habitat
Ecology: Terrestrial or epilithic, at boulder bases, in rock cervices, or in shallow soil pockets overlaying sheet rock, in exposed or partially shaded conditions. Not edaphically bound. Hemicryptophyte, xerophyte; fronds xeromorphic. Vegetative reproduction by the short, closely branched rhizome which often results in the formation of small clonal stands. Seasonal pattern pronounced, with new growth taking place during the rainy season only. May go dormant during prolonged periods of drought, segments articulated. Pyrophytic.
Use
Uses: The species appear to be widely used for a variety of ailments. A decoction of the rhizome is used to relieve boils and mouth sores, whilst the boiled rhizome is used externally to cure sores. A milky decoction is given to frightened children at night, whilst the Xhosa, Zulu, and Sesotho smoke the fronds to relieve head and chest colds (Hutchings et al. 1996; Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962). The fronds are also ground and drunk as a cure for diarrhoea (Zepp 1982).
Range
Distribution: Common and widespread throughout Swaziland, occurring between 400 and 1 400 m. The species is widespread in west central tropical Africa, east tropical, south tropical and southern Africa, and the western Indian Ocean region.
╳
We're sorry. You don't appear to have permission to access the item.
Full access to these resources typically requires affiliation with a partnering organization. (For example, researchers are often granted access through their affiliation with a university library.)
If you have an institutional affiliation that provides you access, try logging in via your institution
Have access with an individual account? Login here
If you would like to learn more about access options or believe you received this message in error, please contact us.