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| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Rhizome moderately long creeping and occasionally branching, 1-3 mm in diameter; rhizome scales dark brown to black with paler base and margins, ovate to ovate elliptic, margin with cilia especially at the base, base auriculate with overlapping lobes, apex acute. Fronds simple, spaced 0.5-1 cm apart, sub-coriaceous to coriaceous. Sterile fronds: 20-35 cm, stipe up to 15 cm long, stramineous to dark brown, grooved, articulated near the base, bearing scales similar to rhizome scales but larger and paler. Sterile lamina linear- elliptic to linear in outline, apex sharply pointed or tapering to a point, base tapering and prolonged down the axis, 10-24 × 0.6-1.8 cm, glabrous above, paler and with small brown scales 0.2-1mm below, margins rolled outwards towards the abaxial side. Fertile fronds: aqualing or slightly shorter than sterile fronds but with a slightly longer stipe, lamina linear-elliptic to linear-obovate, apex with a short narrow point, base narrowly wedge-shaped and prolonged down the axis. Sporangia covering the undersurface of the lamina. |
| Type location: |
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| Notes: | This species resembles E. acrostichoides, but can be distinguished by its darker, lustrous and stiffer rhizome scales. |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Comoro Isl., Madagascar, Réunion and Zambia. |
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| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Lorence, D.H. & Rouhan, G. (2004). A revision of the Mascarene species of Elaphoglossum (Elaphoglossaceae) Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 91 Page 545. Roux, J.P. (2009). Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands Page 127. |