Notogrammitis heterophylla
Common name
taupeka, comb fern
Synonyms
Grammitis heterophylla Labill.; Xiphopteris heterophylla (Labill.) Spreng.; Gymnogramma billardierei Kaulf.; Polypodium billardierei Fée; Polypodium grammitidis R.Br.; Ctenopteris grammitidis (R.Br.) J.Sm.; Grammitis grammitidis (R.Br.) Keyserl.; Polypodium grammitidis R.Br.; Ctenopteris heterophylla (Labill.) Tindale
Family
Polypodiaceae
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.
NOTHET
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: Three Kings, North, South, Stewart, Chatham and Auckland Islands. Also Australia.
Habitat
Coastal to subalpine. Usually epiphytic but also common on cliff faces, boulders in forest and on sheltered rocks within talus and scree
Features
Epiphytic or rupestral shortly rhizomatous fern forming tufted patches. Frond produced in two rows. Lamina (25-)87-191(-300) mm long, (3-)18-57(-100)mm wide; pinnae (3-)12-21(-36) pairs; longest pinnae (1-)10-40(-63) mm long, 15-75(-21) mm wide, apically truncate to acuminate, herbaceous to thickly coriaceous; margins entire or with primary and secondary lobules; hairs 0.2-0.8 mm long, whitish to pale red-brown, catenate, simple, glandular to eglandular, or whitish to pale red-brown, forked, abaxially on rachis, sometimes on both surfaces of lamina and margins. Sori on (2-)8-15(-22) pairs of pinnae.
Similar taxa
V
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
notogrammitis: From the Greek noto- ‘southern’ and gramma ‘line’, referring to this new genus of southern strap ferns which were previously in Grammitis.
heterophylla: Varied leaves; from the Greek heteros and phullon
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Notes on taxonomy
As Ctenopteris heterophylla, Notogrammitis heterophylla was always regarded as very similar to New Zealand Grammitis (all now Notogrammitis) from which it was largely distinguished by its divided frond. However, occasional hybrids between Ctenopteris heterophylla and both Grammitis billardierei and G. ciliata (now Notogrammitis billardierei and N. ciliata respectively), both with varying levels of fertility (i.e. not completely sterile) have been recorded from the wild (Parris 1977; de Lange & Rolfe 2011), and these suggested a very close relationship between Ctenopteris heterophylla and what is now Notogrammitis.
Subsequently the New Zealand species of Grammitis along with Ctenopteris heterophylla and one Australian Grammitis (G. garrettii) have now been transferred to a new genus, Notogrammitis Parris (Perrie & Parris 2012).
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (Updated 10 April 2011). Description from Parris (1998)
References and further reading
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R. 2011: Vascular flora of Maungaraho Rock. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin 53: 11-22
Parris, B.S. 1977: A naturally occurring intergeneric hybrid in Grammitidaceae (Filicales): Ctenopteris heterophylla × Grammitis billardieri. New Zealand Journal of Botany 15: 597-599.
Parris, B.S. 1998: Grammitidaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 450-468.
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.
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): Notogrammitis heterophylla Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/notogrammitis-heterophylla/ (Date website was queried)