Asplenium lamprophyllum
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Ferns
Detailed description
Rhizome creeping, up to 150 mm long, pale green with a few scattered scales, stoloniferous. Stipes 60–200 mm long, pale green above, brown below, deeply grooved, covered in small, very dark, triangular to ovate scales which have thick cell walls. Laminae lanceolate to elliptic, 150–600 × 70–200 mm, light green, glossy above, thin, bipinnate. Raches green, scaly, prominently grooved. Pinnae 12–20 pairs, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acuminate, stalked, 30–100 × 5–25 mm, scaly on underside; lower pinnae themselves pinnate, upper ones pinnatifid. Pinnules sessile or shortly stalked, elliptic, often deeply serrate, 10–20 × 5–15 mm. Sori 3–10 mm long, nearer mid-vein than margin. Sporangia orange brown.
Similar taxa
Recognised by the widely creeping, stoloniferous growth habit, bright green, membranous, glossy above, paler below, 2- or more pinnate fronds which lack bulbils, and orange-brown sporangia. The fresh fronds, when crushed characteristically smell of oil of winter green.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (Te Paki south to near Wanganui and the northern Hawke’s Bay but only common north of Mokau and Gisborne).
Habitat
Coastal to montane. Mostly found within alluvial forest, always in shaded sites or on the buttresses of swamp trees, or in other forested areas on free draining soils, on clay banks, or on basalt or limestone rock outcrops and rock strewn ground. Usually forming carpet over extensive areas.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Life cycle and dispersal
Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown but rather slow. Does best in a semi-shaded site, planted within a deep, rich, free draining soil. A beautiful plant that deserves to be more widely cultivated.
Other information
Plant of the Month
This plant has been featured as a Plant of the Month – see Trilepidea: NZPCN newsletter for January 2009 for the full story.
Etymology
asplenium: From the Greek a- ‘without’ and splene ‘spleen’, a northern hemisphere species, the black spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum), was once believed to be a cure for diseases of the spleen.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
ASPLAM
Chromosome number
2n = 144
Previous conservation statuses
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Brownsey PJ. 1977. A taxonomic revision of the New Zealand species of Asplenium. New Zealand Journal of Botany 15(1): 39–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.1977.10429618.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Attribution
Description from Brownsey (1977).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Asplenium lamprophyllum Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/asplenium-lamprophyllum/ (Date website was queried)