Doodia milnei
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, RR
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Ferns
Flower colours
No flowers
Detailed description
Bright green to green fern. Fertile and sterile fronds similar. Rhizomes erect (sometimes forming a small caudex up to 100 mm tall). Stipes 150–200 mm long; stipes and rachises bearing sparse brown scales, sparsely hairy, glabrescent to glabrous. Frond laminae elliptic to narrowly elliptic, pinnate, 120–600 × 100–200 mm, slightly coriaceous to firmly fleshy, slightly scaly, emergent fronds green (never pink or pink tinged). Pinnae in 20–46 pairs, the lower ones stalked or partially adnate, the middle and upper adnate; terminal pinna 15–60 mm long (somewhat less than ⅛ total frond length); longest pinnae 50–180 × 3–18 mm. Indusia linear.
Similar taxa
Superficially similar to Doodia australis with which it is sympatric in the Kermadec Islands. From that species D. milnei differs by its uniformly green to bright green, longer and wider fronds. The young expanding fronds are always green, never tinged pink or completely pink as is typical of D. australis, the stipes and frond laminae are very sparsely hairy or more usually glabrous, while the pinnae may be up to 180 mm long (100 mm in D. australis). Doodia milnei is endemic to the Kermadec islands group.
Distribution
Endemic. Kermadec Islands (Raoul and Macauley Island).
Habitat
Coastal, usually associated with Kermadec pohutukawa (Metrosideros kermadecensis)-dominated forest where it grows amongst rocks, on cliff faces and within leaf litter. It also has been recorded from Macauley Island (southern Kermadec Islands group) where it grows under sparse Kermadec ngaio (Myoporum rapense subsp. kermadecense).
Threats
Not Threatened. On Raoul this is a very common fern of the drier Kermadec pohutukawa-dominated forest. Its exact status on Macauley Island rests on inadequate gatherings made in 1989. Either way it is listed as Naturally Uncommon only because it is a naturally range restricted island endemic.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Doodia milnei var. milnei ((Carruth.) Baker; Doodia connexa sensu Hook.f.; Doodia caudata var. milnei (Carruth.) Domin; Doodia media var. milnei (Carruth.) Baker in Hook. et Baker; Blechnum kermadecense Perrie et Brownsey
Taxonomic notes
Perrie et al. (2014) advocated for a broadened circumscription of Blechnaceae whereby a number of genera traditionally recognised as distinct from Blechnum were merged within it. However, this view has not met with universal acceptance (see Gasper et al. 2016) and does not seem to be followed worldwide (PPG 2016). From a New Zealand perspective the decision to merge Doodia in Blechnum, and rejection of Diploblechnum has not been universally accepted either e.g., Wilcox & Warden (2017), and as such it is considered appropriate to follow world opinion and accept the taxonomy of Gasper et al. (2016) and recommendations of the PPG (2016).
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
Not applicable—spore producing
Fruiting
Not applicable—spore producing
Propagation technique
Easily grown in most soils and fresh spores germinate well. However, it is cold intolerant, and prefers a sunny situation in a free draining, dry soil. It does not like excessive moisture. An excellent pot plant.
Other information
Etymology
doodia: Named for Samuel Doody, 17th century London apothecary and curator
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.
DOOMIL
Chromosome number
2n = c.160
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: OL IE
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Brownsey PJ, Smith-Dodsworth JC. 2000. New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. David Bateman, Auckland, NZ. 168 p.
Gasper AL, de Oliveira Dittrich VA, Smith AR, Salino A. 2016. A classification for Blechnaceae (Polypodiales: Polypodiopsida): New genera, resurrected names, and combinations. Phytotaxa 275: 191–227. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.275.3.1.
Parris BS. 1972. The genus Doodia (Blechnaceae: Filicales) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 10: 585–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.1972.10430248.
Perrie LR, Wilson RK, Shepherd LD, Ohlsen DJ, Batty EL, Brownsey PJ, Bayly MJ. 2014. Molecular phylogenetics and generic taxonomy of Blechnaceae ferns. Taxon 63(4): 745–758. https://doi.org/10.12705/634.13.
PPG 1: The Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group 2016. A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 54: 563–603. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12229.
Wilcox M, Warden J. 2017. Botany of Hillsborough coast bush reserves, Manukau Harbour, Auckland. Auckland Botanical Society Journal 72: 32–46.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (2 February 2005). Description adapted from Parris (1973) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000)