Species profile—Asplenium pellucidum

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Aspleniaceae → Asplenium pellucidum

Species details

Kingdom

Plantae (plants)

Class

Equisetopsida (land plants)

Family

Aspleniaceae

Scientific name

Asplenium pellucidum Lam.

WildNet taxon ID

12113

Alternate name(s)

Wooroonooran asplenium fern

Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status

Vulnerable

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status

Vulnerable

Conservation significant

Yes

Confidential

Yes

Endemicity

Native

Pest status

Nil

Description

Asplenium pellucidum is an epiphytic or lithophytic fern with a slightly creeping habit. The rhizome is short-creeping and scaly at its apex. The stipe (2 cm long and 1mm in diameter) and rachis are mostly dark brown, becoming green only near the apex and densely scaly near the base. The lamina is narrow elliptic, pinnate, 19 to 23 cm long by 4.5 to 5.5 cm wide, glossy bright green and slightly scaly. There are 20 to 30 pairs of pinnae, with the basal pinnae broadly ovate and the middle pinnae which maybe oblong in shape. All pinnae have basal acroscopic lobes. The pinnae bases are unequally cuneate, maybe sessile, and the margins are coarsely and irregularly toothed. The longest pinnae is near the middle and grows 23 to 28 mm long by 8 to 10 mm wide, decreasing upwards with a short acute pinnatifid apical segment. The sori is 5 mm long. The perispores with smooth prominent broad ridges and smooth lacunae (Brownsey, 1988).
Individuals of this species occurring outside of Australia tend to be larger and have pinnae that taper to a narrow apex (Andrews, 1990).

Map

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Habitat

Asplenium pellucidum occurs in rainforest, and preferred habitat includes mossy branches and rocks especially near waterfalls (Andrews, 1990; Brownsey, 1998; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).

Threatening processes

All known populations occur in Wooroonooran National Park and the level of threats caused by invasive weeds, park usage, development activities and feral animals is unknown (DSEWPC, 2012)

Status notes

Asplenium pellucidum is listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 and Vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Management recommendations

Regional and local priority actions to support the recovery of Asplenium pellucidum are outlined by DSEWPC (2012). A summary of these include: avoiding habitat loss, disturbance and modification (e.g. monitor known populations to identify key threats; monitor progress of recovery, including the effectiveness of management actions; identify populations of high conservation priority); increase conservation information (raise awareness of A. pellucidum); and enabling recovery of additional sites and/or populations (e.g. undertake appropriate spore collection and storage; investigate options for linking, enhancing or establishing additional populations).
It is also been highlighted that more information on both the species and habitat, needs to be collected for A. pellucidum (DERM, 2010).

Notes

Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral district: Cook. Also occurs in the following regions: New Guinea, Melanesia, Malesia, Asia, Pacific Islands (Bostock and Holland, 2010; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).

References

Andrews, S.B. (1990). Ferns of Queensland: 64.
Bostock, P.D. and Holland, A.E. (eds) (2010). Census of the Queensland Flora 2010. Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Brownsey, P.J. in McCarthy, P.M. (Ed) (1998). Flora of Australia 48: 314.
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) (2012). Asplenium pellucidum in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Canberra. Accessed 31/01/2012. http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat.
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) (2010). Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management Region Back on Track Actions for Biodiversity. Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 31/01/2012.

Profile author

Lynise Wearne (31/01/2012)

Other resources

• Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT)
• The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
• Atlas of Living Australia

Data source

This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=12113.

This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.