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Tassel Fern
Photo Courtesy of: Heaton's Nursery
Nambour
Rock
Tassel
fern Lycopodium
(Huperzia
squarrosa)
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This is an ancient group of fern allies,
which has declined dramatically since their peak in the Carboniferous
era.
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The rock tassel fern (Huperzia
squarrosa), which grows in the Wet Tropics today, is very similar to 415
million-year-old fossils from Victoria.
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Tassel ferns are epiphytes, with
long dangling stems.
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Some end in long tassel-like
‘clubs’, which are the spore-bearing cones, rather than those on
staginella.
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However in H. squarrosa the
fertile spore-bearing leaves are the same as the normal leaves, a
characteristic considered very primitive and indicative of its ancient
lineage.
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Related to the tassel ferns is a
vigorous scrambling ground-creeping version (Lycopodium cernuum),
which is common along sunny roadsides.
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It looks like a tiny pine tree
with little cones on the erect branches.
Courtesy
of: Environmental Protection Agency, Cairns.
- Also known as the ‘Water Tassel’ or the ‘Rock
Tassel’, it is characterized by the following:
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Stems pendent or arching, much
branched, up to 60 cm long; leaves up to 1.2 cm long, very crowded, pale
yellow-green, linear-acuminate with a long, pointed apex, spreading.
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Sporangia borne in the bases of
the upper leaves, kidney-shaped, bright yellow; sporophylls smaller and less
spreading than basal leaves, crowded.
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It is a very popular species, which is widely cultivated as a basket plant
throughout eastern Australia, with some magnificent specimens to be seen in
council conservatories etc.
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It grows on trees in low-land
swamps and rainforests and appears to be quite rare in its native habitat.
Confusing
species:
Distinguishing
Features:
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The spreading, acuminate,
pale-green leaves.
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The partially differentiated
sporophylls crowded at the tips.
Distribution:
Cultivation:
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As for other tassel ferns.
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Requires heat in southern
Australia.
Jones.D.L, Clemesha. S.C., Australian
Ferns and Fern Allies, 1980.
Additional
Information:
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'Tassel ferns' Huperzia/Lycopodium spp. are small leaved plants that hang down from trees
as epiphytes, thus resembling tassels decorating the rainforest canopy (left).
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They can easily be seen in the Daintree lowlands, such as along Mossman River.
Script: Courtesy of Damon Ramsey BSc.(Zool) Biologist Guide
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