Notogrammitis rawlingsii
Common name
Rawlings’s strapfern
Synonyms
Grammitis rawlingsii Parris
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.
NOTRAW
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Sparse
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North, Little and Great Barrier Islands, from Herekino and Puketi Forests south to the Coromandel Peninsula (Waikawau Bay), upper Kauaeranga Valley and Mt Pirongia. Locally common around Warkworth and in some kauri remnants in North Shore, Auckland.
Habitat
This species is characteristically associated with kauri (Agathis australis) forest, or forest remnants, where it invariably grows amongst mosses, on rotting logs, exposed roots or as a low epiphyte.
Features
Terrestrial, rupestral (or rarely a low epiphyte) fern. Rhizome short-creeping; paleae pale brown, lanceolate, acute to broadly acute, 4.0-4.5 × 1.0 mm. Stipe indistinct, winged nearly to base; stipe hairs whitish, sparse to common, to 1.5 mm long. Lamina linear-oblanceolate, acute, (103-)104-137(-143) × (4-)4.5-5.5(-6) mm; hairs around and within the sori dark red-brown, stout, sometimes hooked, common to abundant, to 0.5 mm long; lamina hairs elsewhere rare, on margins and midrib, reddish brown, to 0.4 mm; texture thinly coriaceous; veins invisible, endings not darkened; midrib raised on lower surface, concolorous with lamina. Sori oblong, oblique, in upper half of frond, 12—22 pairs, 3-5 × 1 mm; soral vein ending within sorus or extending a little beyond it, shorter than basiscopic vein, neither usually reaching margin. Sporangia (160-) 163.6-203.0(-210) microns long; indurated cells of annulus (10-)10.8-13.6(-14). Spores (23-)23.3-25.9(-27) microns diameter.
Similar taxa
Perhaps most frequently confused with Notogrammitis billardierei, which is superficially similar in that it has linear to narrowly elliptic fronds with blunt apices. However, the sori of Notogrammitis billardierei are glabrous lacking the encircling red-brown hairs diagnostic of N. rawlingsii.
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
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Threats
Although this species is now recognised as being more widespread than when it was first described in the 1970s, it is still rather local, and surprisingly absent from some areas of seemingly suitable habitat (e.g., the Waitakere Ranges). As a rule populations tend to be very localised and small so this species is especially prone to over collection by zealous fern hunters and botanists. The species is now very close to extinction at its type locality at Waipoua, and there is some evidence that this has arisen because of illegal fern collection, though gradual drying out of the forest may also be responsible (B.S. Parris pers. comm.).
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
Taxonomic 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).
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (January 2005). 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.
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 rawlingsii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/notogrammitis-rawlingsii/ (Date website was queried)