Asplenium richardii
Common name
Richard’s spleenwort
Synonyms
Asplenium adiantoides var. richardii Hook.f. in Hook.; Asplenium raoulii var. richardii (Hook.f.) Mett.
Family
Aspleniaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Ferns
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.
ASPRIC
Chromosome number
2n = 288
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North (Mt Honokawa, Mt Ruapehu, and parts of the Kaimanawa Range), and South Islands (mainly east of the Main Divide)
Habitat
Montane to alpine. On basalt, limestone, schist and greywacke rock outcrops, cliff faces (where usually in crevices), amongst boulders, and on stream banks particularly under beech (Nothofagus) forest.
Features
Rhizome short, stout, erect, bearing dark brown subulate scales up to 20 × 2 mm. Stipes 50-150 mm long, brown on underside, green above, densely covered in subulate scales with filiform apices. Laminae ovate to narrowly ovate, 100-250 × 40-120 mm, dark green, relatively thin, normally tripinnate. Raches green, very scaly, slightly grooved. Pinnae 10-15 crowded and overlapping pairs, ovate to narrowly ovate, sub-acute, stalked, 20-80 × 10-40 mm. Secondary pinnae stalked, ovate, 10-20 × 10-15 mm, again pinnate or pinnatifid. Ultimate segments linear, acute or sub-acute, up to 8 mm long. Pinnae and pinnules not flattened in one plane but spreading in three dimensions. Sori 2-4 mm long, submarginal.
Similar taxa
Most likely to be confused with A. hookerianum Colenso from which it differs by the usually much larger size and stouter stipe; by the linear ultimate segments which are mostly < 1 mm wide; and by the pinnae and pinnules which are crowded and overlapping. Asplenium richardii is scarce and exclusively alpine in the North Island, and more common in the higher altitudinal part of the drier, eastern South Island than A. hookerianum.
Flowering
Not applicable - spore producing
Flower colours
No flowers
Fruiting
Not applicable - spore producing
Life cycle
Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown, and an excellent pot plant. However, rather slow growing, and as with all asplenia prone to infestations of scale and mealy bugs.
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.
richardii: Named after Achille Richard (1794-1852) - a French botanist who described several New Zealand plant species
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available
Attribution
Description from Brownsey (1977).
References and further reading
Brownsey, P.J. 1977: A taxonomic revision of the New Zealand species of Asplenium. New Zealand Journal of Botany 15: 39-86.