The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University 9(1): 95-98, April 2009 ©2009 by Chulalongkorn University Short Note Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn (Aspleniaceae), Newly Discovered in Thailand THAWEESAKDI BOONKERD1* AND PIYAKASET SUKSATHAN 2 1 Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand 2 Herbarium, Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, P.O. Box 7, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand An addition to the Pteridophyte flora of Thailand, Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn, is reported for the first time. This newly recorded species is described and illustrated. Its taxonomic confusion with A. laciniatum D. Don and A. varians Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. was noted. The spleenwort ferns, including the genus Asplenium L. and their putative segregates, consist of about 700 species1, and belong to the family Aspleniaceae in the order Polypodiales2. In Thailand, 37 species have previously been recorded3,4. Here, we report an additional species for Thailand, Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn, which was found during a botanical trip to Doi Phe Pun Nam, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand. It was first described by Mettenius in 1868 and has been reported from South Africa eastwards to the western Himalayas, south India, Taiwan and Japan, at altitudes ranging from 200 - 2,000 m5,6. This study is based on specimens collected from Doi Phe Pun Nam, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand. For comparison, we also examined herbarium *Corresponding author: E-mail: thaweesakdi.b@chula.ac.th material deposited in B, BM and K (Herbarium abbreviations are according to Holmgren and Holmgren, 2008)7. The morphological characters of the Doi Phe Pun Nam specimens (P. Suksathan 4147) matched well with the key to the species and description of A. gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn in Khullar (1994)6. They also fitted well with the herbarium and type specimens, which are deposited in Berlin. Accordingly, A. gueinzianum is newly recorded for Thailand. The description below is based on the Thai material. Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn (Fig. 1) Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn, Fil. Afr. 103. 1868. HB. 486. 1868.– A. laciniatum sensu Hook. et auct. non D. Don, Sp. Fil. 164, 200A. 1860.– A. laciniatum var. acutipinna Bir, J. Indian Bot. Soc. 43: 558. 1964.– A. laciniatum var. subintegrifolium Bir, J. Indian Bot. Soc. 43: 558. 1964. Type: Port Natal, South Africa. Gueinzius s.n. (holotype, B!). Rhizome short, erect, bearing fronds in a tuft; scales linear to oblong-lanceolate, gradually narrowing towards apex, about 3.5 96 NAT. HIST. J. CHULALONGKORN UNIV. 9(1), APRIL 2009 FIGURE 1. Asplenium gueinzianum Mett. ex Kuhn. A. Habit, B. Pinnae enlarged showing sori and C. Rhizome scale. Drawn by Manit Kidyoo from P. Suksathan 4147 (QBG). by 0.5 mm, dark brown, clathrate, fimbriate to almost entire. Stipe 2 - 10 cm long, castaneous or stramineous upwards, glabrous, grooved above. Lamina 1-pinnatepinnatifid, apex pinnatifid, about 5 by 3 cm at base; rachis green, grooved above, glabrous; pinnae shortly stalked, 12 - 24 pairs, with 3 6 segments below an indistinctly dissected apical portion, about 2 by 1 cm; ultimate segments spathulate, round and toothed at apex, cuneate at base, herbaceous, green, glabrous; proliferous on upper surface; BOONKERD AND SUKSATHAN – NEWLY DISCOVERED ASPLENIUM GUEINZIANUM 97 veins forked, visible, each entering a tooth of ultimate segments. Sori elongated, 1 to 5 for each pinnule, up to 2-3 mm long; indusia membranaceous, almost entire. Specimens Examined.– P. Suksathan 4147 (QBG); Gueinzius s.n. (holotype, B!). Thailand.– NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Phe Pun Nam). Distribution.– S. Africa, Ceylon, S. India, Himalaya, Sri Lanka, China, Indochina, Taiwan, Japan and Hawaii. Ecology.– On muddy rocks in dense forests at 1,800-2,000 m alt. Note.– A. gueinzianum was misnamed by Hooker (1864)8 as A. laciniatum D. Don and has been used erroneously for a long time. But the true A. laciniatum is the species Hooker named as A. varians, which is a synonym of A. laciniatum9. So the name A. varians Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. in Flora of Thailand3 must therefore be replaced by A. laciniatum D. Don. These two species are rare species in Thailand, only being collected once each so far. A. gueinzianum and A. laciniatum can be identified using the following key. This has been extracted from the Flora of Thailand, Aspleniaceae account3 and has been amended to include the new species and new name of Thai Asplenium: 32. Pinnae up to 3 cm long 33. Stipe glabrous. Lamina herbaceous 34. Pinnae gemmiferous above …………..….38. A. gueinzianum 34. Pinnae not gemmiferous ………………...16. A. laciniatum 33. Stipe densely scaly. Lamina narrowly elliptic, chartaceous to subcoriaceous……….…37. A. rockii 32. Pinnae more than 3 cm long 35. Pinnae 3-8 cm long 36. Ultimate segments linear, entire …………………14. A. thunbergii 36. Ultimate segments oblong to spathulate…….17. A. interjectum 35. Pinnae up to 10 cm or more long 37. Frond tripinnatifid or more compound 38. Stipe green; sometimes gemmiferous………….……… ……………15. A. tenuifolium 38. Stipe purplish to nearly black, shining; not gemmiferous ..……………35. A. confusum 37. Frond bipinnate 39. Stipe and rachis glabrous. Ultimate segments obtuse at apex…………..33. A. nitidum 39. Stipe and rachis minutely scaly. Ultimate segments acute to moderately acute at apex…………….36. A. affine ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by Chulalongkorn University, Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment fund, Grant No. R007_2550. The first author also thanks Chulalongkorn University for funding the trip, through the Plants of Thailand Research Unit, to visit the main herbaria in Europe. We wish to express our sincere thanks to the curators and staff of the following institutions: B, BK, BKF, BM, K, P and L for their kind permission to study pteridophyte specimens. Thank also to Manit Kidyoo for his expertise in drawing Fig. 1. LITERATURE CITED 1. Kramer, K.U. and Viane, R. 1990. Aspleniaceae. In: Kramer, K.U. and Green, P.S. (Eds). Pteridophytes 98 NAT. HIST. J. CHULALONGKORN UNIV. 9(1), APRIL 2009 and Gymnosperms. In: K. Kubitzki (Ed.). The families and genera of vascular plants. Vol. 1, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, pp. 52-56. 2. Mabberley, D.J. 2008. Mabberley’s Plant-Book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their classification and uses. 3rd ed., completely rev., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1021 pp. 3. Tagawa, M. and Iwatsuki, K. 1985. Aspleniaceae. In: Smitinand, T. and Larsen, K. (Eds). Flora of Thailand, Vol. 3 part 2, Phonphan Printing Company, Ltd., Bangkok, pp. 261-291. 4. Boonkerd, T. and Pollawatn, R. 2000. Pteridophytes in Thailand, Office of Environmental Policy and Planning, Bangkok, Thailand, 312 pp. 5. Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. and Anthony, N.C. 1986. Aspleniaceae. In: Leistner, O. A. (Ed.). Flora of South Africa: Pteridophyta, The Government Printer, Pretoria, pp. 173-205. 6. Khullar, S.P. 1994. An Illustrated Fern Flora of west Himalaya, International Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, India, 506 pp. 7. Holmgren, P.K. and Holmgren, N.H. 2008. Index Herbariorum, The New York Botanical Garden, New York. Available from: http://sciweb.nybg.org/ science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp (Nov. 11, 2008). 8. Hooker, W.J. 1864. Species filicum. Vol. V: Polypodieae-Acrosticheae. Plates 281-304, Pamlin, London, 310 pp. 9. Fraser-Jenkins, C.R. 1997. New Species Syndrome in Indian Pteridology and the Ferns of Nepal, International Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, 403 pp. Received: 24 November 2008 Accepted: 19 January 2009