Huperzia - Lycopodiaceae

Huperzia dura Pic.Serm.

 

 

 

 

Synonyms

Huperzia dacrydioides (Bak.) Pic.Serm. var. dura (Pic.Serm.) Verdc.

Common name

Description

Compared to H. dacrydioides (subsp. dacrydioides), typically H. dura is a much stiffer plant with shorter stems, more coriaceous leaves very clearly 6–8-ranked and spreading at about 45° and sporophylls very short, 2.5–4.5 mm long. According to Verdcourt in F.T.E.A., the material from other nearby localities merges with subsp. dacrydioides until the spreading leaves are the only differential character, he places H. dura as a subspecies under H. dacrydioides.

Notes

Derivation

dura: hard, referring to the stiff, coriaceous fronds.

Habitat

Dry evergreen mist forest, intermediate wetter evergreen forest and Ocotea-Cephalosphaera-Uvariodendron rain forest.

Distribution worldwide

See African distribution.

Distribution in Africa

Kenya, Tanzania .

Growth form

Epiphytic, lithophytic.

Literature

  • Roux, J.P. (2009) Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Page 13.
  • Vercourt, B. (2005) Lycopodiaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Pages 5 - 7. As Huperzia dacrydioides (Bak.) Pic.Serm subsp. dura (Pic.Serm.) Verdc.
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