Gleichenia microphylla
Common name
carrier tangle fern, parasol fern
Synonyms
Gleichenia circinnata var. microphylla (R.Br.) Maiden et Betche; Gleichenia microphylla var. semi-vestita (Labill.) Alderw.; Gleicheniastrum microphyllum var. semi-vestitum (Labill.) Nakai; Gleicheniastrum semi-vestitum (Labill.) C.Presl; Mertensia microphylla (R.Br.) Kaulf.; Gleichenia circinnata var. semi-vestita (Labill.) T.Moore; Calymella semi-vestita (Labill.) Ching; Gleichenia semi-vestita Labill.; Gleicheniastrum microphyllum (R.Br.) C.Presl; Calymella microphylla (R.Br.) C.Presl
Family
Gleicheniaceae
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.
GLEMIC
Chromosome number
2n = 40
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
Indigenous. New Zealand: North, South, Stewart Island (from North Cape south but often absent from the eastern side of the two main islands and more common north of Kawhia and Mahia Peninsula). Also Australia, Indonesia and south-east Asia.
Habitat
Coastal to lowland, on improverished soils, clay pans, serpentinite scree, ferricrete. Also in eutrophic to mesotrophic swamps, and in coastal cliff seepages, as well as on thermally heated ground where it sometimes forms an important ground cover in open scrubland.
Features
Rhizome 1.5-3.5 mm diameter, clothed at first with appressed dark blackish brown lanceolate scales with stiff erect cilia. Frond of 1-3 tiers of branches 0.09-2.00 m long; lower tiers often branching. Stipe 0.1-0.55 m long, widelty scattered along rhizome, bearing scattered dark brown lanceolate scales with whitish woolly-lanate cilia, soon glabrescent, smooth; rachis bearing red-brown to dark blackish brown stellate hairs and lanceolate ciliate scales, sometimes glabrescent. Pinnules glabrous; ultimate segments 1.0-2.5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, oblong to triangular, obtuse or acute, flat, although sometimes recurved when dry; undersurface green, paler than upper surface (very rarely glaucescent). Sori of 2-4 bright yellow sporangia. Description adpated from Chinnock & Bell (1998) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
Similar taxa
Distinguished from both Gleichenia alpina and G. dicarpa by the usually triangular, flat (never pouched) ultimate pinnule segments, and bright yellow sporangia comprised of sori in 2-4 pairs (never strictly 2 pairs). Gleichenia microphylla is also the more common species in coastal and lowland situations in the northern part of New Zealand. Differs from Gleichenia inclusisora (which also lacks pouched pinnule segments) by the sori which are never embedded in the frond under surfaces.
Flowering
N.A.
Flower colours
No flowers
Fruiting
N.A.
Life cycle
Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Fickle. Probably best left alone. Transplants have sometimes been successfully grown in shaded conditions with plants planted in an acid, poorly drained soil. But results vary and plants tend to resent any root disturbance
Etymology
gleichenia: After the German naturalist and plant physiologist Wilhelm Friedrich (Baron) von Gleichen (1717-1783)
microphylla: Small leaf
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 15 March 2011. Description adapted from Chinnock & Bell (1998) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
References and further reading
Brownsey, P.J.; Smith-Dodsworth, J.C. 2000: New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. Auckland, David Bateman
Chinnock, R.J.; Bell, G.H. 1998: Gleicheniaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 148-162.
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Gleichenia microphylla Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/gleichenia-microphylla/ (Date website was queried)