Angiopteris evecta
EOL Text
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
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| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Angiopteris+evecta |
Distribution
- Indonesia
- New Guinea
- coastal northern Australia
- south and west Pacific Islands
Naturalised in:
- Hawaii
- Jamaica
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
Habitat
Terrestrial in rainforests, clearings and along roadsides, often also found in ravines and steep volcanic slopes, always on very rich soils.
Trophic strategy
On nutrient rich volcanic soils.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Dr Maarten Christenhusz, Natural History Museum |
| Source | No source database. |
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 6
Specimens with Barcodes: 6
Species With Barcodes: 1
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
Rounded Global Status Rank: G4 - Apparently Secure
Reasons: Native to Polynesia, Malaysia, and Hawaii.
Conservation status
Occurs in abundance in most places, although programmes are in action to protect the Australian populations.
Threats
Logging and forest fires in Australia, and overgrowing by Lantana and grazing by goats are a treat on some Pacific islands.
Trends
Population are mostly stable though declining in Australia and increasing in new habitats in Hawaii, Costa Rica and Jamaica where it is an invasive species.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Dr Maarten Christenhusz, Natural History Museum |
| Source | No source database. |
Angiopteris evecta, commonly known as the Giant Fern, is a rare plant occurring in eastern and northern Australia. Also found growing in nearby islands such as New Guinea and various places in Polynesia and Melanesia.[1] Listed as endangered in New South Wales, where it has been recorded growing in sub tropical rainforest, in the valley of the Tweed River.[2] It is an invasive species in Hawaii and Jamaica.
Angiopteris evecta is the type species of the genus Angiopteris. It was originally described as Polypodium evectum by Georg Forster in 1786,[3] before being reclassified and given its current binomial name in 1796 by Georg Franz Hoffmann.[4] The species name is the Latin adjective evectus "swollen" or "inflated".[5] Common names include giant fern, king fern, oriental vessel fern, and mule's foot fern.
The huge mature fronds measure up to 8 metres (25 ft) long. They originate from a large thick rootstock, up to 150 cm (60 in) high.
Angiopteris evecta can be grown in well-drained moist sites in the garden with some shade. It is unable to be propagated by spores but the lobes from the frond base can be removed and will form a new plant in around a year in a medium of sand and peat.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ "Angiopteris evecta". Global Invasive Species.
- ^ "Angiopteris evecta". PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ "Polypodium evectum G.Forst.". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ^ "Angiopteris evecta (G.Forst.) Hoffm.". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ^ a b Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L.; Blake, Trevor (1985). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Vol. 2. Port Melbourne: Lothian Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-85091-143-5.
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| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
| Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Angiopteris_evecta&oldid=641851087 |
Comments: Considered exotic in North America (23 Mar 94)
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Angiopteris+evecta |
- Ferns with large rhizomes covered in fleshy stipules
- Thick petioles bear large, bipinnate blades that are articulated by swollen bases
- Leaves are usually 5-6m long and 3m wide
- The pinnules are elliptic, with free venation and small dentation at the apex
Morphology
- Giant ferns to 7m tall
- Rhizomes massive, globose, erect, radially arranged, to 150cm tall and to 100cm wide
- Stipules 10cm wide when dry (to about 20 cm when fresh), densely long-scaly above, triangular-keeled, the edges irregularly erose
- Leaves bipinnate, up to 5-7m long, petiole up to 2m long, up to 6 cm wide, the swollen base to 15cm wide, without nodes
- Blades up to 4m long and up to 3m wide, deltoid-elliptic, bright green above, slightly glaucous or lighter green below, with up to 25 (sub-)alternating pinna pairs
- Pinnae with up to 50 pairs of (sub)alternating pinnules, the pinnules occasionally forked or with a minute basal lobe (up to 1cm long)
- Largest lateral pinnules linear to ovate-lanceolate, 7-13 times longer than wide, 9-17 x 0.9-1.8cm, 13-15 x 3-3.8cm in young plants, widest below or at the middle, apices acute to acuminate, bases obtuse-truncate (or cordate), margins entire with a serrulate apex
- Terminal pinnae linear to ovate-lanceolate, similar to the lateral, 8-13(-16) x 0.9-2(-4)cm, widest below the middle, margins serrulate at apex
- Veins variable, some simple, usually paired at base or forked occasionally twice forked, 8-16 veins per cm
- Sori in two-rowed clumps of 9-14, and these placed on the veins in a submarginal row; juveniles forming the first pair of pinnae when plant is 4cm tall, bipinnate leaves appear when the plants are larger than 40cm, only adult plants (> 3m long) make fertile leaves
Diagnostic description
Angiopteris is a complex genus and the differences between the species with giant rhizomes and bipinnate leaves are poorly understood, because herbarium material is always fragmentary.It is of intermediate size. A. lygodiifolia is much smaller (leaves to 3m) and A. teijsmanniana is much larger (leaves to 9m). A. fokiensis has warty petioles, and A. angustifolia has a different shape of the stipules.
Evolution
Angiopteris is sister to Marattia s.s, which forms a clade sister to Christensenia. These are sister to a clade uniting Eupodium and Ptisana.Within Angiopteris, A. evecta is not well-resolved in the latest phylogenies, but the A. evecta complex is sister to the subgenus Archangiopteris.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Dr Maarten Christenhusz, Natural History Museum |
| Source | No source database. |