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  4. Leptolepia novae-zelandiae

Leptolepia novae-zelandiae

Castle Rock, Coromandel.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Castle Rock, Coromandel.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Wainuiomata Catchment; from a specimen collected by Chris Horne.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 01/06/2012, 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>
Mangatainoka River, Tararua Range. Jan 2008.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2008, 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>
Mangatainoka River, Tararua Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2008, 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>
Wellington, Wrights Hill Reserve.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2012, 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>
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Common name

lace fern

Synonyms

Dennstaedtia novae-zelandiae (Colenso) Keyserl.; Microlepia novae-zelandiae (Colenso) J.Sm.; Acrophorus hispidus T.Moore; Davallia novae-zelandiae Colenso

Family

Dennstaedtiaceae

Authority

Leptolepia novae-zelandiae (Colenso) Diels

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

Yes

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.

LEPNOV

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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

Coastal to montane confined to deeply shaded, forested sites, where it is often found on rock piles, along streams and river banks (in places where the forest overhangs the waterways) or around seepages and springs. Often uncommon, though sometimes locally abundant.

Habitat

Coastal to montane confined to deeply shaded, forested sites, where it is often found on rock piles, along streams and river banks (in places where the forest overhangs the waterways) or around seepages and springs. Often uncommon, though sometimes locally abundant.

Features

Terrestial, rhizomatous, tufted fern. Fronds set at wide intervals along shortly creeping rhizomes. Stipes 50-600 mm long; stipes and rachises red- chesnut-brown or black, hairy at base, smooth and polished above with occasional hairs at pinna junction. Laminae 150-600 × 60-300 mm, dark green (rarely yellow-green), 3-4-pinnate, ovate, elliptic, broadly elliptic or deltoid, cartilaginous, glabrous, rarely sparsely hairy. Veins free. Pinnae finely dissected, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic, apices sharply acute. Sori oval to rounded, terminating veins just inside pinnae margins; indusia deltoid, adnate at base with two margins free, these laciniate and opening towards pinnae margins.

Similar taxa

Leptolepia is superficially similar to species of Lastreopsis, from these it is easily distinguished by the almost glabrous fronds (in Lastreopsis the stipes are usually scaly, and the stipes and laminae are covered in hairs and unicellular yellow or orange glands), by the finely dissected, broad fronds, usually with the basiscopic secondary pinnae much reduced (in Lastreopsis the lower most basiscopic secondary pinna on each basal primary pinna is greatly elongated downwards). The distinctive deltoid indusia with laciniate margins opening towards the pinna margins is diagnostic for this species and genus (which is endemic to New Zealand).

Flowering

Not applicable - spore producing

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Not applicable - spore producing

Life cycle

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

Propagation technique

Easily grown although often slow to establish. Does best in a shaded, damp site. Tolerant of wide range of soil types but will not withstand drought. Once established Leptolepia can sometimes become invasive

Etymology

leptolepia: Thin scales (covering sori)

novae-zelandiae: Of New Zealand

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (17 March 2012). 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): Leptolepia novae-zelandiae Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/leptolepia-novae-zelandiae/ (Date website was queried)

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