Species

Schizaea fistulosa

Etymology

fistulosa: From the Latin fistula 'pipe', referring to a cylindrical or terete shape which is closed at each end

Common Name(s)

comb 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

Schizaea fistulosa Labill.

Family

Schizaeaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

SCHFIS

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Ferns

Synonyms

Acrostichum fistulosum (Labill.) Poir.; Microschizaea fistulosa (Labill.) C.F.reed

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: Three Kings, North, South and Chatham Islands. In the North Island widespread from North Cape south to about the Waikato thence scarce. In the South Island confined to North-West Nelson. Also present in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa.

Habitat

Coastal to lowland on clay pans, podzols, in gumland scrub, open scrub or forest, kauri forest (and then especially along ridged lines) and also in restiad peat bogs in the Waikato and the Chatham Islands.

Features

Rhizomatous, tufted fern. Rhizome short creeping, densely clothed with dark brown hairs. frond clustered, erect, undivided, 10-500 mm long, c.0.5-1.0 mm wide, wiry, terete or subterete, furrowed on 1 side, green or pale brown with scattered hairs, smooth; sterile fronds similar to sporogenous fronds but much shorter; sporogenous heads 7-30 mm long, usually 5-12× longer than wide, narrowly triangular to linear-oblong, broadest at or near the base, tapering distally, straight or slightly curved; segments 2-5 mm long, smooth, glabrous or with sparse hairs. Sporangia not mixed with hairs. Description adapted from Chinnock (1998) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).

Similar Taxa

Allied to Schizaea australis (which some botanists (e.g., Chinnock 1998) regard as merely a reduced state of this S. fistulosa) from which it differs by its usually large size (stipe 100-500 cf. 20-150 mm mm long in S. australis), larger fertile sporogenous frond ( 7-30 mm cf. 4-15 mm in S. australis), slightly larger pinnae (1-5 mm cf. 1-4 mm long in S. australis ), ecological preference for coastal and lowland habitats, and perhaps most convincingly by its different chromosome number (2n = 388, 540 cf. 2n= 188 in S. australis).

Flowering

N.A.

Flower Colours

No Flowers

Fruiting

N.A.

Propagation Technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 380, 540

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 March 2011. Description adapted from Chinnock (1998) and Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).

References and further reading

Brownsey, P.J.; Smith-Dodsworth, J.C. 2000: New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. Auckland, David Bateman

Chinnock, R.J. 1998: Schizaeaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 177-187.

This page last updated on 11 Aug 2014