Volume 3 > Part 2 > Year 1989 > Page 289–290 > Aspleniaceae > Asplenium

35. Asplenium confusum Tardieu & Chingwfo-0000153991

Notul. Syst. 5: 148. pl. 4. f. 3. pl. 7. 1936; Tardieu & C.Chr. in Fl. Indo-Chine 7(2): 240. 1940; Tagawa & K.Iwats., S.E. Asian Stud. 5: 88. 1967.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Rhizome short, ascending, densely scaly; scales narrow, gradually narrowing towards hair-point apex, about 20 by 0.8 mm, entire, greyish to dark brown, crisped. Stipe about 20 cm long, dark stramineous to polished dark purple or nearly black, grooved above. Lamina elliptic to oblong-subtriangular, acuminate, 30–40 by 10–20 cm, tripinnate; rachis glabrous, grooved; lower pinnae 2–5 cm from the next ones, ascending, oblong-subtriangular, cuneate to subtruncate at base, gradually narrowing and bending up towards caudately acuminate apex, stalked, 10–15 by up to 5 cm; larger pinnules stalked, oblong-subtriangular, acute at apex, cuneate at base, pinnatifid to pinnate, up to 3 by 1.5 cm; ultimate segments (or secondary pinnules) spathulate, rounded and toothed at apex, cuneate and sessile at base, up to 10 by 5 mm, sometimes lobed to half-way, papyraceous to coriaceous; veins raised on both surfaces. Sori up to 7 mm long, usually nearly to midrib, close together but rarely confluent; indusia thin but firm, persistent.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Phitsanulok (Thung Salaeng Luang), Tak (Mae Sot, Huai Krasa); NORTH-EASTERN: Loei (Phu Luang, Phu Kradueng); EASTERN: Buri Ram (Khao Krap); SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri (Si Racha), Prachin Buri (Ban Ban Hills), Chanthaburi (Khao Sabap), Trat (Ko Chang); SOUTH-WESTERN: Prachuap Khiri Khan; PENINSULAR: Chumphon (Ban Krayae), Surat Thani (Ko Tao, Khlong Bakatae, Ko Samui, Ban Don), Phangnga (Pulao Tiban).

Distribution : Indochina (type).

Ecology : On mossy tree-trunks or often on root mass of Asplenium nidus in dense evergreen forests at low to medium altitudes.

Vernacular : Kraprok hang maeo (กะปรอกหางแมว)(Southeastern).

Notes: We refer all the tripinnate plants of this group from Thailand to Asplenium confusum, but we are not quite sure this identification. The variation among the specimens at hands ranges widely in texture (herbaceous to coriaceous), in the degree of involution of segments, in the form and size of pinnae, pinnules and segments, and in the length and position of sori.

E-version notes : For more details see Ferns of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.