Family

Tectariaceae

Nomenclature

Tectaria zeilanica (Houtt.) Sledge, Kew Bull. 27: 422. 1972; Holttum, Fl. Males., Ser. II, Pterid. 2: 75. 1991. – Ophioglossum zeilanicum Houtt., Nat. Hist. 14: 43. 1783. – Quercifilix zeilanica (Houtt.) Copel., Philipp. J. Sci. 37: 409. 1928; Tardieu & C.Chr., Fl. Indo-Chine 7(2): 440, f. 48. 3–4. 1941; Holttum, Rev. Fl. Malaya ed. 1, 2: 528, f. 310. 1955 [‘1954’]; Holttum, Dansk Bot. Ark. 20: 31. 1961; Tagawa & K.Iwats., SouthE. Asian Stud. 5: 100. 1967; Tagawa & K.Iwats., Fl. Thailand 3: 383. 1988; Boonkerd & Pollawatn, Pterid. Thailand: 210. 2000. – Type: Thunberg s.n., Sri Lanka (UPS).

Acrostichum quercifolium Retz., Obs. Bot. 6: 39. 1791. – Gymnopteris quercifolia (Retz.) Bernh., Neues J. Bot. 1(2): 20. 1806; Bedd., Handb. Ferns Brit. India: 432, f. 262. 1883.

Description

Rhizome short, creeping or ascending, bearing a few sterile fronds in a rosette and usually an erect fertile frond; scales up to 5 by 0.2 mm, the base dilated to 1 mm wide, membranous, dark brown, toothed at margin. Frond dimorphic. Sterile frond usually in rosette, not erect; stipe 4–8 cm long, stramineous, densely scaly at base, densely hairy throughout with long, paler or yellowish, warty hairs; lamina pinnatifid to trifoliate, up to 10 by 5 cm; lateral pinnae asymmetrically oblong-subdeltoid to nearly circular, rounded at apex, broadly cuneate to cordate at base, sessile, up to 3 by 2 cm, subentire or slightly undulate at margin, sometimes bearing auricles at basiscopic base, up to 7 mm long and wide; terminal pinnae oblong, rounded at apex cuneate to broadly so at base, lobed at margin to 1/3 way towards costa, up to 7 by 4.5 cm, the lobes rounded-subdeltoid, 0.7 by 1.5 cm, entire; herbaceous, green, hairy on undersurface and at margin; veins anastomosing forming copious areoles, hairy beneath. Fertile frond erect; stipe up to 25 cm long, slender, very sparsely scaly or glabrescent; lamina trifoliate, lateral pinnae sometimes with short basiscopic lobes, up to 5 cm long; pinnae up to 2.5 mm broad; sporangia covering the whole under surface of pinnae except for edges.

Distribution in Thailand

NORTHERN: Lampang, Phitsanulok; NORTH-EASTERN: Phetchabun, Loei; EASTERN: Chaiyaphum; SOUTH-WESTERN: Prachuap Khiri Khan; CENTRAL: Saraburi; SOUTH EASTERN: Chanthaburi.

Wider Distribution

Mauritius, Sri Lanka, S China, Indochina, Taiwan, Borneo, and on Pulau Tioman off W Malaysia.

Ecology

On muddy rocks in mixed or evergreen forests at altitudes lower than 500 m.

Proposed IUCN Conservation Assessment

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

Voucher specimens - Thailand

Middleton et al. 5132, Loei, Phu Suan Sai, Tat Huang waterfall (E).