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  4. Hymenophyllum armstrongii

Hymenophyllum armstrongii

Okarito.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 10/02/1983, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Hymenophyllum armstrongii.<br>Photographer: John E. Braggins, Licence: All rights reserved.
Hymenophyllom armstrongii.<br>Photographer: A. J. Townsend, Date taken: 05/10/2011, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

filmy fern

Synonyms

Craspedophyllum armstrongii (Baker) Copel.; Hymenophyllum cheesemanii var. armstrongii (Baker) Cheeseman; Hymenophyllum melanocheilos Colenso; Microtrichomanes armstrongii (Baker) Copel.; Trichomanes armstrongii Baker in Hook. et Baker; Craspedophyllum cheesemanii (Baker) N.A.Wakef.; Hymenophyllum cheesemanii Baker in Hook.f.

Family

Hymenophyllaceae

Authority

Hymenophyllum armstrongii (Baker) Kirk

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.

HYMARM

Chromosome number

2n = 26

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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

Habitat

Coastal to montane (in the North Island almost strictly montane), but extending to lowland and coastal areas in the western South Island and Stewart Island. Usually in closed forest where it is typically seen as a high epiphyte on tree trunks and branches often growing intermingled within epiphytic mat-forming mosses such as Macromitrium. Also found on damp rocks and cliff faces.

Features

Diminutive, mat-forming fern. Rhizomes long-creeping, gracile, pliant, brittle when dry. Stipes 1-10 mm long, glabrous, membranous, not winged. Laminae oblong, undivided or forked 1-2×, 5-20 × 1-3 mm, dark green with conspicuous black midribs, glabrous, margins usually black, bearing prominent spines. Sori conspicuous, terminal, slightly sunken into lamina. Indusial flaps smooth-edged. Description adapted from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth.

Similar taxa

A distinctive species readily distinguished from all other filmy ferns by its small size, oblong undivided or sparingly divided, dark green fronds with dark black midrib and spiny margins, and by the slightly sunken terminal sori.

Flowering

N.A.

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

N.A.

Life cycle

Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild.

Etymology

hymenophyllum: Membranous leaf, from the Greek humen and phullon

armstrongii: Named either after Joseph Francis Armstrong (1820-1902) or his son John Beattie Armstrong (1850-1926).

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

Attribution

Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange (17 April 2011). Description adapted from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth.

References and further reading

Brownsey, P.J.; Smith-Dodsworth, J.C. 2000: New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. Auckland, David Bateman

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): Hymenophyllum armstrongii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/hymenophyllum-armstrongii/ (Date website was queried)

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