Class
Subclass
Order
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Cheilanthes viridis (Forssk.) Sw., Syn. Fil. 127 (1806)
Synonymy:
- ≡ Pteris viridis Forssk., Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. cxxiv, 186 (1775)
- ≡ Adiantum viride (Forssk.) Vahl, Symb. Bot. (Vahl) 3, 104 (1794)
- ≡ Pteridella viridis (Forssk.) Kuhn in Decken, Reisen Ost. Afr., Bot. 3(3), 16 (1879)
- ≡ Pellaea viridis (Forssk.) Prantl, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 3: 420 (1882)
- ≡ Hemionitis viridis (Forssk.) Christenh. in Christenhusz et al., Global Flora, GLOVAP Nomenclature 1, 4, 22 (2018)
Type: Yemen, montium Hadiensium, P. Forsskål s.n., not located (see Roux 2009).
Etymology:
Vernacular Name(s):
green cliff brake
Recognition
In New Zealand, Cheilanthes viridis has glossy, dark red-brown stipes, rachises and costae. The fronds are up to 500 mm long and 250 mm wide; the laminae are 3-pinnate at the base, with tertiary pinnae 15–25 mm long and 6–12 mm wide, very similar in appearance to the primary pinnae of native Pellaea species, except that they are not articulated to the costae and rachis as they are in Pellaea. The veins are free. The sori extend along the margins of the ultimate segments but do not join at the apices.
Distribution
North Island: Auckland, Southern North Island.
Altitudinal range: c. 50 m.
Collected from near Cambridge and in Wellington.
Occurs naturally in southern and eastern Africa, Yemen, Madagascar and India (Crouch et al. 2011). Naturalised in Queensland and New South Wales (Bostock 1998).
Habitat
Cheilanthes viridis has been collected from ignimbrite cliffs above the Waikato River near Cambridge, probably as an escape from cultivation, and from a garden in Wellington, where it appeared spontaneously.
Biostatus
Exotic
First Record
Webb et al. (1995), as Pellaea viridis. Voucher WELT P016336, 1987.
Notes
Forsskål’s Pteris viridis has been variously treated in Cheilanthes, Pellaea, Adiantum and Pteridella, but is now regarded as a species of Cheilanthes (Anthony 1984) because the pinnae and lamina segments are not articulated as they are in Pellaea.
Bibliography
Anthony, N.C. 1984: A revision of the southern African species of Cheilanthes Swartz and Pellaea Link (Pteridaceae). Contributions from the Bolus Herbarium 11: 1–293.
Bostock, P.D. 1998: Adiantaceae. In: Flora of Australia. Vol. 48. 248–269.
Brownsey, P.J.; Perrie, L.R. 2021: Pteridaceae. In: Breitwieser, I. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Ferns and Lycophytes. Fascicle 30. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Christenhusz, M.J.M; Fay, M.F.; Byng, J.W. (ed.) 2018: Special Edition, GLOVAP Nomenclature Part 1. Vol. 4. Plant Gateway Ltd., Bradford, United Kingdom.
Crouch, N.R.; Klopper, R.R.; Burrows, J.E.; Burrows, S.M. 2011: Ferns of southern Africa. A comprehensive guide. Struik Nature, Cape Town.
Decken, C.C. von der 1879: Reisen in Ost-Afrika in den jahren 1859-1861. Vol. 3. Part 3. Winter, Leipzig.
Forsskål, P. 1775: Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica. Möller, Copenhagen.
Prantl, K.A.E. 1882: Die Farngattungen Cryptogamme und Pellaea. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 3: 403–430.
Roux, J.P. 2009: Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23: 1–296.
Swartz, O.P. 1806: Synopsis Filicum, earum genera et species systematicae complectens. Kiel.
Vahl, M. 1794: Symbolae botanicae. Part 3. Möller, Copenhagen.
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J.; Brownsey, P.J. 1995: Checklist of dicotyledons, gymnosperms, and pteridophytes naturalised or casual in New Zealand: additional records 1988–1993. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 151–182.
