Notogrammitis crassior
Common name
dwarf strap fern
Synonyms
Polypodium billardieri var. pumilum (J.B.Armstr.) Cheeseman; Polypodium billardierei f. nana (Franchet) Skottsb.; Grammitis australis var. alpina S.Jones; Grammitis australis var. nana Franchet; Polypodium australe var. pumilum (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne; Polypodium crassium Kirk; Polypodium pumilum (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne; Grammitis kerguelenensis Tardieu; Grammitis nana Brack.; Grammitis pumila J.B.Armstr.; Grammitis armstrongii Tindale; Polypodium australe var. minutum F.Muell.
Family
Polypodiaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
No
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.
NOTCRA
Chromosome number
2n = 74
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, Campbell and Macquarie Islands from Mt Hikurangi south (but generally scarce in the North Island). Also known from Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania,), South America (Chile, Argentina), Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cuntha, Gough Island, South Africa, and from Kerguelen, Marion, and Crozet Islands.
Habitat
Coastal to alpine (strictly subalpine to alpine in the North Island) mostly in the wetter parts of the main islands of New Zealand. A common fern on boulders and cliff faces, earth banks and stony soils and stream banks. Rarely extends into forest and then only in the southern part of its range
Features
Terrestrial or rupestral fern. Rhizome long-creeping (rarely short-creeping), often mat-forming; paleae light brown, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, rarely lanceolate, obtuse to acute, 1.0-3.5 × 0.4-1.2 mm. Stipes indistinct, winged almost to base; stipe hairs absent. Lamina (4-)5-19(-30) × (2-)2.5-3.4(-5) mm; spathulate to linear-spathulate, rarely broadly oblanceolate, obtuse to broadly acute; lamina hairs occasionally present, sparse, brown, multicellular, to 0.7 mm; texture thickly coriaceous; veins invisible, endings not darkened; midrib slightly raised or completely invisible on underside of lamina, concolorous. Sori subglobose to globose, sometimes ± coenosoroid, usually confluent when mature, usually terminal on frond, l-4(—5) pairs, 1-3 × 1-2 mm, to 8 mm long when coenosoroid; soral vein ± equal in length to basiscopic vein, neither reaching the margin. Sporangia (240-)252.5-319.1(-400) microns long; indurated cells of annulus (10-)11-14(-20). Spores (31-)39.2-53.6(-65) microns diameter.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from the other New Zealand species of Notogrammitis by the combination of having a creeping rhizome, fronds 5-19 × 2-3.4 mm, these usually bearing < 3 pairs of sori; with the sori 1-3 mm long and subglobose to globose.
Flowering
Not applicable - spore producing
Flower colours
No flowers
Fruiting
Not applicable - spore producing
Propagation technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild
Etymology
notogrammitis: From the Greek noto- ‘southern’ and gramma ‘line’, referring to this new genus of southern strap ferns which were previously in Grammitis.
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Notes
The New Zealand species of Grammitis along with Ctenopteris heterophylla and one Australian Grammitis (G. garrettii) one Lord Howe (G. diminuta) and one species endemic to the Moluccas and Indonesian (G. kairatuensis) have traditionally been placed in Grammitis (Parris & Given 1976; Parris 1998). However, these species (with the exception of G. diminuta, G. kairatuensis and G. stenophylla; B.S.Parris pers. comm. to P.J. de Lange January 2011) have now been transferred to a new genus, Notogrammitis Parris (Perrie & Parris 2012). Notogrammitis crassior is the fern that has been known in New Zealand for some time, incorrectly (see Perrie & Parris 2012) as Grammitis poepiggiana.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (25 April 2011). Description from Parris & Given (1976).
References and further reading
Parris, B.S. 1998: Grammitidaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 450-468.
Parris, B.S.; Given, D.R. 1976: A taxonomic revision of Grammitis Sw. (Grammitidaceae: Filicales) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 14: 85-111.
Perrie, L.R.; Parris, B.S. 2012: Chloroplast DNA sequences indicate the grammitid ferns (Polypodiaceae) in New Zealand belong to a single clade, Notogrammitis gen. nov. New Zealand Journal of Botany 50: 457-472.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Notogrammitis crassior Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/notogrammitis-crassior/ (Date website was queried)