22 Fig. 7 FERNS <strong>and</strong> ALLIED PLANTS FDRV1 March 2011
From Sri Lanka to south-east Asia, northern Australia (W.A., N.T., Qld) <strong>and</strong> Malesia. In the N.T. it occurs in the Top End north <strong>of</strong> latitude 15° S <strong>and</strong> on adjacent <strong>of</strong>f-shore isl<strong>and</strong>s. Common in perennial wet rainforests. A. wagneri (Selling) C.F. Reed Schizaea wagneri Selling Rhizome short creeping or suberect, clothed with long stiff brown hairs. Fronds clustered, few, weak, linear <strong>and</strong> channelled when dry, 6–20 cm long, to 0.5 mm diam., not constricted below sporogenous lobes. Sporogenous lobes 2–5, linear, tufted at apex, 7–15 mm long, to 0.5 mm wide. Sporangia in 2 rows, interspersed with long pale brown hairs. Fertile <strong>plants</strong>: Mar. FERNS <strong>and</strong> ALLIED PLANTS 23 SCHIZAEA Sm. Fig. 7 (Russell-Smith 2056). Known from only one collection, 12 km north <strong>of</strong> Paru on Melville Isl<strong>and</strong>. Also in Qld, Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea <strong>and</strong> the Admiralty Isl<strong>and</strong>s. Grows on raised humic soil mounds in perennial spring-fed rainforest. The specimen at DNA (Russell-Smith 2056) was annotated by David Jones as Actinostachys wagneri but is not recorded in the Flora <strong>of</strong> Australia (vol. 48, 1998) as occurring in the N.T. It is possible that this species is more common <strong>and</strong> that its small size <strong>and</strong> grass-like habit hinder detection in the field. Rhizome short or long creeping <strong>and</strong> clothed with simple or multicellular hairs, roots wiry. Fronds clustered, dimorphic. Stipe grading into lamina, indistinct. Sterile lamina undivided or dichotomously branched once to many times; segments narrow, linear; veins free; fertile lamina similar to sterile but with sporogenous segments borne pinnately or digitately at the apex <strong>of</strong> lamina axes which are undivided or dichotomously branched, separate or rarely joined by intercostal lamina tissue. Sporangia in 2 rows, on either side <strong>of</strong> the vein, fringed by teeth or hairs. Spores ellipsoidal, smooth to variously ornamented. A genus <strong>of</strong> c. 28 species, with a predominantly tropical distribution. Five species in Australia, one in the N.T. S. dichotoma (L.) Sm. Acrostichum dichotomum L. Rhizome short creeping, densely clothed with glossy dark brown hairs. Fronds clustered, or spaced along rhizome, erect, 3.9–61 cm long, scabrid; unbranched portion 1–2 mm wide, subterete, flattened on 1 side, brown near base, clothed with long brown hairs, green above, hairs scattered; sterile frond shorter than sporogenous frond, dividing above middle into repeated dichotomous branchlets; sporogenous frond similar, but branches more open; sporogenous heads 3–11 mm long, 1–3 times longer than LYGODIACEAE D.J. Dixon broad; segments 1.5–5 mm long, scabrid. Sporangia mixed with hairs. Fertile <strong>plants</strong>: all year. Branched Comb Fern. Fig. 7 (Michell 1559); Pl. 6 (unvouchered). Ranges from the Mascarenes to Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, Australia (W.A., N.T., Qld, N.S.W.), New Zeal<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Pacific. In the N.T. it occurs in the Top End, north <strong>of</strong> latitude 15° S, <strong>and</strong> extends to adjacent <strong>of</strong>fshore isl<strong>and</strong>s. A commonly collected fern mostly associated with margins <strong>of</strong> perennially wet rainforest, but occasionally found within rainforest. Soils are rich in organic matter. Homosporous climbing <strong>ferns</strong>. Rhizome subterranean, short- or long-creeping, dichotomously branched, clothed with septate or multicellular hairs, roots fibrous. Fronds circinnate, exstipulate, clustered along rhizome, dimorphic to trimorphic. Juvenile fronds <strong>of</strong> definite growth, once-forked into 2 palmately branched leaflets; climbing fronds with a wiry rachis <strong>of</strong> indefinite growth formed by unequal FDRV1 March 2011