Platycerium Desv.
Subordinate Taxa
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Platycerium Desv., Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 213 (1827)
Type Taxon:
Description
Epiphytic ferns. Rhizomes short-creeping, scaly. Rhizome scales non-clathrate, chaffy. Fronds dimorphic; basal fronds sterile, cordate, overlapping, appressed, entire or variously lobed, becoming brown with age, forming a ‘nest’ or ‘basket’; upper foliage fronds sterile or fertile, articulated to rhizome, dichotomously branched, strap-like, coriaceous, covered with stellate hairs. Major veins dichotomously branched; minor veins reticulate; areoles with or without free included veinlets; hydathodes absent. Sporangia in dense patches on various parts of the lamina under-surface; paraphyses present as stellate hairs; exindusiate. Spores monolete, bilaterally symmetrical, plain to tuberculate.
Taxonomy
A genus of about 18 species (Hennipman & Roos 1982; Bostock & Spokes 1998). One species casual in New Zealand.
Distribution
Pantropical with one species in South America, six in Africa and Madagascar, eight in south east Asia, and four in Australia.
Biostatus
Exotic: Casual
Number of species in New Zealand within Platycerium Desv.
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Exotic: Casual | 1 |
| Total | 1 |
Bibliography
Bostock, P.D.; Spokes, T.M. 1998: Polypodiaceae. In: Flora of Australia. Vol. 48. 468-495.
Desvaux, A.N. 1827: Prodrome de la famille des Fougères. Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Paris 6: 171-337.
Heenan, P.B.; de Lange, P.J.; Cameron, E.K.; Ogle, C.C.; Champion, P.D. 2004: Checklist of dicotyledons, gymnosperms, and pteridophytes naturalised or casual in New Zealand: additional records 2001-2003. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42: 797-814.
Hennipman, E.; Roos, M.C. 1982: A monograph of the fern genus Platycerium (Polypodiaceae). Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Natuurkunde Series 2, 80: 1-126.
Hennipman, E.; Veldhoen, P.; Kramer, K.U. 1990: Polypodiaceae. In: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Kramer, K.U.; Green P.S., Pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Vol. 1. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.