Pyrrosia eleagnifolia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pyrrosia eleagnifolia | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Division: | Polypodiophyta |
| Class: | Polypodiopsida |
| Order: | Polypodiales |
| Suborder: | Polypodiineae |
| Family: | Polypodiaceae |
| Genus: | Pyrrosia |
| Species: | P. eleagnifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Pyrrosia eleagnifolia (Bory) Hovenkamp | |
| Synonyms | |
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Pyrrosia eleagnifolia, commonly known as the leather-leaf fern, or ota in Māori, is a climbing fern endemic to New Zealand. P. eleagnifolia has thick, fleshy rounded leaves, and grows both on the ground and as an epiphyte.
This species was originally confused with Pyrrosia serpens, a Pacific species. The specific epithet eleagnifolia refers to the leaf appearance, and comes from elaeagnus (olive) and folium (leaf).[1]
Description
Leather-leaf fern has thick, undivided fronds that are rounded and extremely variable in length – they can be long and thin, up to 20 cm in length, or short and broad (2 cm, rarely 3 cm wide).[1] The fronds grow on long creeping rhizomes. Sterile fronds are generally shorter and broader than fertile ones. The fronds are thick and leathery, smooth and rounded, with blunt ends. They are dark green above and abundantly covered with light-brown irregularly-branched hairs underneath.[2]
