Hymenophyllum demissum
Common name
drooping filmy fern, Irirangi, piripiri
Synonyms
Mecodium demissum (G. Forst.) Copel.; Hymenophyllum australe var. aucklandicum (Bosch) C.Chr.; Sphaerocionium demissum (G.Forst.) C.Presl; Trichomanes demissum G.Forst.; Hymenophyllum aucklandicum Bosch;
Family
Hymenophyllaceae
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.
HYMDEM
Chromosome number
2n = 72
Current conservation status
The threat classification 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) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website 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. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: Kermadec (Raoul Island), North, South, Stewart, Chatham and Auckland Islands. Widespread except for the drier parts of the eastern South Island
Habitat
Coastal to montane in forest. Usually terrestrial where it typically forms dense carpets on the ground, on banks or on rotting logs. Also epiphytic, and then found mostly on the basal trunks of forest trees and tree ferns. Sometimes found in forest growing over boulders, rocks and on cliff faces.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
UPL: Obligate Upland
Rarely is a hydrophyte, almost always in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Terrestrial or epiphytic fern forming large patches made up of numerous densely (more rarely diffuse) packed fronds. Rhizomes long-creeping, slender. Stipes 40-170 mm long, stout, pliant, wiry, glabrous usually not-winged, if winged then wing minute; rachises narrowly winged throughout. Laminae elliptic, ovate or narrowly ovate, 3-4-pinnate, 70-250 × 30-150 mm, pale green to dark green, glabrous. Ultimate segments oblong, margins smooth. Sori numerous on the terminal ends of the ultimate segments of the primary pinna. Indusial flap margins smooth or minutely toothed. Description adapted from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
Similar taxa
Easily recognised by the extremely wiry usually un-winged stipe, large glabrous fronds, smooth-margined pinna segments, and when fertile by the numerous, narrow, paired sori. When dry the fronds of this species rarely curl up.
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
demissum: Drooping; from the latin demissus; referring to the leaves when the plant is perched on trees
Where To Buy
Not commerically availabe
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (17 April 2011). Description adapted from 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
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 demissum Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/hymenophyllum-demissum/ (Date website was queried)