The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Botrychium biforme

Etymology

Botrychium: bunch of grapes; from the Greek botrus; grape like spore clusters
biforme: two forms or shapes of leaves, from the Latin bi and formis

Common Name(s)

fine-leaved parsley fern

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Botrychium biforme Colenso

Family

Ophioglossaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

BOTBIF

Structural Class

Ferns

Synonyms

Botrychium australe var. millefolium (Milde) Prantl; Botrychium cicutarium var. dissectum Hook.f.; Botrychium ternatum var. dissectum G.M.Thomson; Botrychium dissectum sensu J.B.Armstr.; Sceptridium biforme (Colenso) Lyon;

Distribution

Endemic. North and South Islands, from Mt Pirongia south often sporadic but can be locally common

Habitat

Lowland to alpine. Preferring open ground, short and tall tussock grassland, forest clearings, shrubland, river flats, frsot flats, reverting pasture and seasonally flooded ground. It is often found in deeply shaded sites within tall forest, or under dense thickets of grey scrub or frost flat vegetation.

Features

Stout, fleshy reddish green (bronze) to green plants. Roots thick, fleshy, not ridged or contracted. Sterile laminae 1(-2) stalked, broadly ovate or 5-angled, divided 5-8 times, 30-250 x 30-150 mm, ultimate segments acute, 0.05-0.1 mm wide. Fertile laminae 1(-2) borne on a narrower but longer stalk, fertile portion shorter and narrower than sterile laminae, divided 3-5-times, bearing numerous, spherical, yellow-brown sporangia up to c.10 mm diam.

Similar Taxa

Botrychium australe R.Br. from which B. biforme differs by the absence of ridged, contractile roots, and by the more finely divided sterile fronds whose ultimate segments are 0.1-1 mm wide. B. biforme may be found growing intermixed with B. australe.

Flowering

Not applicable - spore producing

Flower Colours

No Flowers

Fruiting

Not applicable - spore producing

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened - however often local and sporadic in its occurrences. This species seems mor etolerant of heavily shaded situations and forested habitats than B. australe, and there doe snot appear to be any suggestion of a decline happening within any part of its range.

Chromosome No.

2n = 90

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 12 Nov 2014