Aspleniaceae
Asplenium

Asplenium preussii Hieron.

First published in G.W.J.Mildbraed (ed.), Wiss. Erg. Deut. Zentr.-Afr. Exped., Bot. 2: 9 (1910)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical Africa to N. Mpumalanga, Madagascar. It is a perennial, lithophyte or epiphyte and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Aspleniaceae, Henk Beentje. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2008

Type
Type: Cameroon, Mt Cameroon, Buea, Preuss 584 (B!, lecto.; B!, iso.), chosen by Tardieu (1964)
Morphology General Habit
Terrestrial, epiphyte or lithophyte.
Vegetative Multiplication Rhizomes
Rhizome scales 3–7 × 2 mm, hair-tipped. Rhizome erect, 5–10 mm diameter, with dark brown subulate subentire concolorous
Morphology Leaves
Frond tufted, arching, thinly coriaceous, to 60 cm long, proliferous at the base of the deeply pinnatifid lanceolate apical segment.
Morphology Leaves Stipes
Stipe green when fresh, greyish-green when dried, 8–20 cm long, with sparse dark brown lanceolate clathrate scales up to 2 mm long.
Morphology Leaves Leaf lamina
Lamina 22–43 × 4.5–13 cm, 2-pinnatisect, oblong lanceolate in outline, acuminate, basal pinnae hardly reduced.
Morphology Leaves Pinnae
Pinnae variable, from shallowly incised to pinnatifid almost to costa, up to 8.5 × 2 cm, petiolate, lanceolate-attenuate, unequally cuneate at the base, deeply pinnatifid into linear or very narrowly oblong-acute or oblanceolate 2-fid lobes up to 8 mm long, basal acroscopic lobe broadly cuneate, shallowly incised in the upper 1/2 into 4–7 acute short lobes, glabrous except for a few substellate dark brown minute scales on the lower surface.
Morphology Leaves Rachis
Rachis matt-greyish-green with minute substellate to very narrowly lanceolate dark brown scales.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Sori
Sori set along the veins, one per lobe, linear, 2–7 mm long, slightly curved.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Sori Indusium
Indusium very narrowly oblong, membranous, entire.
Ecology
Moist forest; 1400–2350 m
Conservation
Widespread; least concern (LC)
Note
A variable species. I agree with Burrows that the finely divided extreme form resembles A. dregeanum. A. bugoiense is also close, differing mainly in the dissection details; there are intermediates such as Faden 69/2117. When specimens lack gemmae, they will key to the A. rutifolium/loxoscaphoides group.
Distribution
Range: Sporadic throughout tropical Africa, to South Africa Flora districts: U2 K5 T6
[FTEA]

Aspleniaceae, A. H. G. Alston. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Ferns and Fern-Allies Supplement. 1959

Ecology
Terrestrial, especially on rocks, 3, 500 to 6, 000 ft. alt.
[FWTA]

Sources

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images