Family

Aspleniaceae

Nomenclature

Asplenium laciniatum D.Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 8. 1825; Khullar, Ill. Fern Fl. W. Himalaya: 418. 1994. – Type: Wallich, Nepal, "In alpibus" (holotype BM, Morton photograph 6686).

Asplenium varians Wall. ex Hook. & Grev., Icon. Filic.: t. 172. 1829; Bedd., Handb. Ferns Brit. India: 158. 1883; Tardieu & C.Chr., Fl. Indo-Chine 7(2): 235. 1940; Tagawa & K.Iwats., SouthE. Asian Stud. 5: 88. 1967; Tagawa & K.Iwats., Fl. Thailand 3: 276. 1985; Boonkerd & Pollawatn, Pterid. Thailand: 179. 2000.

Description

Lithophytic. Rhizome short, erect, bearing fronds in a tuft; scales narrowly elliptic, gradually narrowing towards apex, about 3.5 by 0.5 mm, dark brown, clathrate, entire. Stipes castaneous, or stramineous upwards, glabrous or scaley, grooved above, 2–3 cm long. Laminae oblong-subdeltoid, acute at apex, about 5 by 3 cm at base, bipinnatifid; rachis green, grooved above, glabrous; pinnae shortly stalked, with 3–6 segments below indistinctly dissected apical portion, about 2 by 1 cm; ultimate segments spathulate, round and toothed at apex, cuneate at base, herbaceous, green, glabrous; veins visible, each entering a tooth of ultimate segments. Sori 2 to 5 for each segment, up to 2 mm long, hardly confluent to each other; indusia enrolling the sori, thin but firm .

Distribution in Thailand

NORTHERN: Chiang Mai.

Wider Distribution

S. Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Himalaya, China, Indochina, Japan and Hawaii.

Ecology

In moist muddy crevices of mossy limestone cliffs in dense forests at 1900– 2000 m.

Similar species

Asplenium exiguum Bedd.

Proposed IUCN Conservation Assessment

Least Concern (LC). This species is widespread and not under any known threats.

Voucher specimens - Thailand

Middleton et al. 5028, Chiang Mai, Doi Ang Khang (E).