Hymenophyllum multifidum
Common name
much-divided filmy fern
Synonyms
Mecodium multifidum (G. Forst.) Copel.; Hymenophyllum multifidum var. oligocarpum (Colenso) Domin; Trichomanes multifidum G.Forst.; Hymenophyllum multifidum var. truncatum (Colenso) Domin; Hymenophyllum multifidum var. alpinum (Colenso) Domin; Hymenophyllum oligocarpum Colenso; Hymenophyllum truncatum Colenso; Davallia multifidum (G.Forst.) Spreng.; Hymenophyllum alpinum Colenso
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.
HYMMUL
Chromosome number
2n = 52
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 | Qualifiers: SO
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand. North, South, Stewart, Chatham, Antipodes, Campbell and Auckland Islands.
Habitat
Widespread in coastal to montane forest and subalpine scrub. A common ground cover of the forest floor, as well as epiphytic, also common on rock faces, boulders and on shaded rock overhangs
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 often forming thick patches on substrate. Rhizomes long-creeping, slender, much branched and interwoven. Fronds bright or dark green. Stipes 20-100 mm, slender, glabrous, sometimes winged above; rachises winged throughout. Laminae broader than long or elliptic to deltoid, 3-4-pinnate, 30-200 × 15-100 mm, glabrous. Ultimate segments linear, margins toothed. Sori large and conspicuous, on short segments, 1-several on each primary pinna, usually set at 90 degrees to plane of frond. Indusium connate, tubular; flaps margins entire, sometimes also undulose, receptacle usually exserted. Description adapted from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
Similar taxa
Except for reduced specimens, Hymenophyllum multifidium is easily recognised by the deeply toothed pinnae, and prominent sori bent at right-angles to the plane of the frond, by the tubular indusia, entire often undulose indusial flaps and exserted recaptacle. Reduced states can be confused with Hymenophyllum minimum which is easily distinguished by the solitary sori terminating the rachises, and by the toothed indusial flaps and spinose abaxial surfaces of the indusia, and from H. cupressiforme by the stipe which is only partially winged rather than winged throughout, and by the sori which are bent at right-angles to the plane of the frond. The indusial flaps of Hymenophyllum cupressiforme are often slightly toothed.
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
multifidum: Much divided; from the Latin multus and findere; the leaf
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (20 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 multifidum Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/hymenophyllum-multifidum/ (Date website was queried)