Psilotum complanatum

Psilotaceae

Psilotum complanatum Sw.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/88065

Epiphytic plants. Rhizome branching, creeping. Aerial shoots firm to flaccid or pendulous, branched repeatedly in one plane in the upper part, 15–110 cm long. Branches flattened, 2–4 mm wide; margins slightly thickened; stomata covering both surfaces. Sterile leaves alternate along the margins, c. 1 mm long, appressed, subterete, pale yellow-green, translucent towards the tips. Synangia 1.5–2.5 mm long and wide. 

Widespread in the tropics and subtropics. In NE QLD most commonly seen in Cape York Peninsula and NE QLD lowland rainforests.

Epiphytic or occasionally lithophytic in vine forest. Usually seen growing from Platycerium and Asplenium clumps in lowland to low-montane mesic complex mesophyll vine forest.

This species is less common than Psilotum nudum. The pendant branches usually emerge directly from the bottom of its host epiphyte.

It can be cultivated in a hanging basket or pot of coarse free-draining material but grows better planted directly into a nest-fern. It takes a long time to establish and is slow growing.

Psilotum nudum has more or less terete ultimate forks whereas Psilotum companatum has flattened ultimate forks.