Species profile—Asplenium normale
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Aspleniaceae → Asplenium normale
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Aspleniaceae
- Scientific name
- Asplenium normale D.Don
- WildNet taxon ID
- 12111
- Alternate name(s)
- rainforest spleenwort
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Vulnerable
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- Yes
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Description
- Asplenium normale is a lithophytic fern. The rhizomes are short, ascending to sub-erect, with a scaly apex. The scales are brown, narrowly triangular, entire growing to 5 mm long. The stipe and rachis are shiny, dark brown throughout and maybe glabrous. The stipe grows 3 to 12 cm long and up to 0.5 mm in diameter. The lamina is very narrowly elliptic to linear, pinnate, 8 to 12 cm long by 1.7 to 2.3 cm wide, thin, and maybe glabrous. There are 15 to 25 pairs of pinnae, which maybe oblong in shape. The pinnae bases are unequally cuneate, lobed acroscopically and excised basiscopially, and shortly stalked. The pinnae apices are obtuse. The acroscopical and apical margins are coarsely crenate-serrate; the basiscopic margins are entire. The longest pinnae which is near the middle is 8 to 12 mm long and 5 to 7 mm wide, with the pinnae decreasing gradually upwards to a short acuminate pinnatifid apex. The lowest pinnae is deflexed. The sori is short, to 2 mm long. The perispores are dark, reticulate, fenestrate with occasional ridges (Brownsey, 1988).
Australian specimens are smaller than those from tropical regions further north, and lack the bulbils typical of larger plants (Brownsey, 1988). - Habitat
- Asplenium normale grows on rocks and dead logs in rainforest (Brownsey, 1988). In Australia the species has been recorded growing on vertical faces of mossy rocks with Hymenophyllum walleri and numerous bryophytes (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Status notes
- Asplenium normale is listed as Near Threatened under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992.
- Notes
- Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral district: South Kennedy. Also occurs in the following regions: New Guinea, Malesia, Asia, Pacific Islands (Bostock and Holland, 2010; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- References
- 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: 320.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 31/01/2012. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (30/01/2012)
Other resources
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=12111.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
