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  4. Pakau pennigera

Pakau pennigera

Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/07/2010, 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>
Pneumatopteris pennigera.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Pneumatopteris pennigera.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Sori. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 10/12/2011, 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>
Current record of tallest Gully fern (185cm +), Waitakere Auckland.<br>Photographer: Marley Ford, Date taken: 14/06/2019, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 09/10/2016, 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>
Stokes Valley.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 01/06/2015, 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>
Sori. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 12/05/2013, 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>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 12/05/2013, 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>
Sori. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 11/05/2013, 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>
Sori. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 11/05/2013, 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

gully fern, feather fern, piupiu

Synonyms

Cyclosorus pennigera (G. Forst.) Ching; Thelypteris pennigera (G. Forst.) Allan; Dryopteris pennigera var. hamiltoni (Colenso) Cheeseman; Polypodium pennigerum var. hamiltonii Colenso; Polypodium pennigerum var. giganteum Colenso; Polystichum pennigerum (G.Forst.) Gaudich. in Freyc.; Phegopteris cunninghamii Mett.; Polypodium pennigerum G.Forst.; Polypodium subsimilis Colenso; Goniopteris pennigera (G.Forst.) J.Sm.; Lastrea pennigera (G.Forst.) C.Presl; Nephrodium pennigerum (G.Forst.) C.Presl;Cyclosorus pennigerus (G.Forst.) Ching; Dryopteris pennigera (G.Forst.) C.Chr.; Goniopteris forsteri T.Moore; Aspidium cunninghamii Kunze; Aspidium novae-zeelandiae Ettingsh.; Aspidium pennigerum (G.Forst.) Sw.; Pneumatopteris pennigera (G. Forst.) Holttum

Family

Thelypteridaceae

Authority

Pakau pennigera (G. Forst.) S.E. Fawc. et A.R. Sm.

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.

PNEPEN

Chromosome number

2n = 144

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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, Chatham Islands. Also Australia.

Habitat

Coastal to montane, usually in dense forest in riparian habitats or in gullies, or on frequently flooded ground. A common fern under willows (Salix spp.). Often found along waterways in urban wasteland, Although usually found in shaded situations Pakau will tolerate considerable exposure provided its roots are in a permanently damp situation.

Features

Delicate, terrestrial fern. Rhizome slender, erect, 0.3–1.0 m tall, scaly; scales broad, brown, glabrous. Fronds 0.4–1.2 m long, pale yellow-green to bright green. Stipe 0.15–0.3(–0.45) m long, pale brown or green-brown. Lamina narrowly elliptic to elliptic, to 0.3–1.1(–1.5) m long; pinnae to 36 pairs; basal 4–5 pairs gradually reduced; lowest pinnae 10–30 mm long, 15–30 mm wide; largest pinnae c.100 mm long, 30 mm wide at auriculate base, lobed more than ½-way to costae; lobes oblique, tapering, minutely dentate; costules 5–7 mm apart; veins usually 6 pairs, 1 pair anastomosing, with next acroscopic vein sometimes passing to the sinus membrane. Lamina ± glabrous, aside from pale brown ovate scales on abaxial surface of costae of emergent and young fronds, and sparse brown acicular hairs and colourless capitate hairs on adaxial surface of rachis, costae and margins. Sori inframedial, exindusiate; sporangia without capitate hairs near annulus.

Similar taxa

Within the New Zealand Thelypteridaceae Pakau is superficially similar to Christella (with which it sometimes grows). From Christella it is most reliably distinguished by abaxially glabrous fronds (hairy in Christella) and absence of an indusia (present in Christella).

Flowering

Not Applicable - Spore Producing

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Not Applicable - Spore Producing

Propagation technique

Easily grown provided it is planted in a permnantly moist soil, in a shaded site, and sheltered from frost.

Etymology

pakau: Pākau, or pākauroharoha, is derived from the common name for the fern Pakau pennigera (hitherto known as Pneumatopteris pennigera) in Te Reo Māori

TAXONOMIC INFORMATION

Pakau is a monotypic genus erected by Fawcett & Smith (2021) to accommodate Pneumatopteris pennigera. Pakau differs from Pneumatopteris by having exindusiate sori, by the presence of costal scales, and by the absence of rudimentary proximal pinnae.

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (13 November 2012). Description adapted from Bostock (1998) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).

References and further reading

Bostock, P.D. 1998: Thelypteridaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 327–358.

Brownsey, P.J.; Smith-Dodsworth, J.C. 2000: New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. Auckland, David Bateman

Fawcett, S.; Smith, A.R. 2021: A generic classification of the Thelypteridaceae. Sida 59. BRIT Press, Fort Worth Botanic Garden | Botanical Research Institute of Texas, U.S.A.

Ford M. (2020). Pneumatopteris pennigera -a record-breaking gully fern? Trilepidea January 2020.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pakau pennigera Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pakau-pennigera/ (Date website was queried)

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