1

1 Note on hispidulum (), a new record species to Flora

2 of Thailand

3 Thaweesakdi Boonkerd* and Rossarin Pollawatn

4 Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Phyathai Road,

5 Bangkok 10330 Thailand

6 *Corresponding author, Email address: [email protected]

7

8 Abstract

9 Adiantum hispidulum Sw., a species of the widespread maidenhair fern, is

10 officially reported for the first time from NE Thailand. We present a description of

11 this newly recorded species and discuss its geographical distribution, phenotypic

12 variation and conservation status.

13 Keywords: Pteridaceae, rosy maidenhair fern, Adiantum hispidulum

14

15 1. Introduction

16 The maidenhair , Adiantum L., consisting of about 200 species

17 worldwide, belong to the family Pteridaceae in the order (Mabberley,

18 2008; Smith et al., 2006). The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending from

19 the Pacific Islands to northeast Australia, Asia, S Europe, Madagascar, tropical

20 Africa, and America (Schelpe and Anthony, 1986). This paper is a part of

21 contributions en route for a revision of Adiantum L. for the Flora of Thailand Project.

22 In Thailand, 10 species have previously been recorded since 1985 (Tagawa and

23 Iwatsuki, 1985). Currently, Thai Adiantum account is being updated to include 17

24 species (Boonkerd and Pollawatn, 2011). 2

25 Adiantum hispidulum Sw. was firstly mentioned in a popular Thai Fern-book in 1993 by

26 ML. Charuphan Thongtham, a fern horticulturist who reported the first finding of A. hispidulum in

27 their natural habitat at Chulabhorn (Nam Prom) dam, Chaiyaphum province, NE Thailand.

28 However, there was no evidence to prove his discovery, e.g., no photographs or voucher

29 specimens seen. Thus we took it as “unofficial finding”.

30 Here, we officially report the 18th species of Thai maidenhair fern, Adiantum

31 hispidulum Sw., found during the botanical trip to Hong Thong Waterfall, Phu Kradueng

32 National Park, Loei Province, NE Thailand. It was previously known to occur in tropical

33 Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, India, China through Malaysia to Australia, as well as

34 New Zealand and Pacific islands (Schelpe and Anthony, 1986; Youxing and Prado, 2012;

35 Shieh, 1994). This is an attractive fern species, with reddish young frond, commonly

36 known as rough maidenhair or rosy maidenhair. It has become a commercial species in

37 many countries including Thailand. It is easily propagated from spores, in the USA, A.

38 hispidulum, has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in some states, such as

39 Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii (Hoshizaki and Moran, 2001).

40 The species was first described by Olof Swartz in 1801, from a specimen

41 collected from Australia. The specimen was kept in the Swartz herbarium at the

42 Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden (Schelpe and Anthony,

43 1986).

44

45 2. Materials and Methods 46 47 This study is based on the determination of a collection made in Loei Province

48 (Hong Thong Waterfall), northeastern Thailand in 2010. For comparison, we also

49 examined herbarium materials at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K), the National

50 Museum of Natural History in Paris (P), the Swedish Museum of Natural History (S) and 3

51 the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (PH). Herbarium

52 acronyms are according to Holmgren and Holmgren (1998).

53

54 3. Result 55 56 The morphological characters of the Loei specimens are comparable to the

57 descriptions of Adiantum hispidulum in Schelpe and Anthony (1986) and Shieh (1994).

58 They are also particularly similar to those of the type specimen of A. hispidulum in the

59 Swartz herbarium at S and to those of other specimens identified as A. hispidulum at

60 K, P, PH and S. Accordingly, A. hispidulum is a new record for Thailand. The

61 description below is based on the Thai materials.

62 Description

63 Adiantum hispidulum Sw., J. Bot. (Schrader). 1800 (2): 82. 1801.; Schelpe & 64 Anthony in Fl. S. Africa (Pteridophyta): 100-101. 1986.; Shieh in Fl. Taiwan 2nd ed. 65 1: 239. 1994.; —Adiantum hispidulum Sw. var. glabratum Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 66 89(4). 1928. —Adiantum hispidulum Sw. var. normale Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4). 67 1928. Adiantum hispidulum Sw. f. strictum Gilbert, Fern Bull. 13: 109. 1905. — 68 Adiantum pedatum G. Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. 83. 1786. —Adiantum pubescens 69 Schkuhr, 24. Kl. Linn. Pfl.-Syst. 1: 108. 1809. Type: Australia, Unknown, Herb. 70 Swartzii Reg. no. S-P 8123 (Holotype, S!). Fig. 1-2. 71 72 ca. 35 cm tall. Rhizome short, erect, covered with lanceolate,

73 concolorous brown scales; scales ca. 2.1 x 0.35 mm, entire. Fronds erect, tufted. Stipe

74 castaneous, polished, ca. 17 cm long, clothed towards the base with brown scales,

75 covered with short stiff multicellular hairs. Lamina ovate to deltate, 15.0-17.5 x 5-12

76 cm, 2- to 3-pinnate. Middle pinnae largest, linear-oblong, ca. 15 cm long; costa

77 densely covered with multicellular hispid hairs, lateral pinnules up to 22 pairs,

78 alternate, with short stalks; middle pinnules nearly equal in size, mostly rhombic, ca.

79 0.9 x 0.6 cm, becoming gradually smaller toward both ends, thin, firm, dark green,

80 bases cuneate, inner and lower margins straight and entire, upper margins with narrow 4

81 shallow sinuses, outer margins serrate to incised; veins free, forked, visible on both

82 sides, hairy on both surfaces, hairs multicellular, stiff, patent; lateral pinnae similar to

83 the middle one. Sori at 2-3 vein tips, near margin, 4–9 for each leaflets; indusial flaps

84 oblong, bearing brown hairs.

85 Specimens Examined.— THAILAND: Loei, P. Nopsiriwong 14 (BCU);

86 INDIA: Madras, F.M. Jarrett 534 (K); CEYLON: Hakgala, R.B. Faden & A.J. Faden

87 77/1 (P); PHILIPPINES: Luzon, A.D.E. Elmer 6974 (K); PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

88 Sattelberg, R.J. Johns 086 (K), Mt. Giluwe, J.R. Woodams 149 (K); AUSTRALIA:

89 New South Wales, J.R. Boosmau s.n. (P); NEW CALEDONIA: M. Franc 364 (P);

90 POLYNESIA: Society Island, W.D. Brackenridge s.n. (PH).

91 Thailand.— NORTH-EASTERN: LOEI (Hong Thong Waterfall, Phu

92 Kradueng).

93 Distribution. — Tropical Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, India, China, Taiwan

94 through Malaysia to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

95 Ecology. — Terrestrials on dry slopes in semi-shade at around 1,100 m

96 altitude.

97 Conservation Status. — So far, only a small population of about 20 individuals

98 has been found. We considered registering Adiantum hispidulum as “Data Deficient

99 (DD)” according to IUCN Conservation Status, since only one population has been

100 found. It is hoped that some more populations will be found elsewhere in the

101 protected areas of Thailand.

102 Adiantum hispidulum can be identified using the keys shown in Table 1. This

103 has been extracted from the Flora of Thailand, Adiantum account (Tagawa and

104 Iwatsuki, 1985) and has been amended to include the new species of Thai Adiantum.

105 5

106 4. Discussion

107 The occurrence of Adiantum hispidulum in NE Thailand corresponds to its

108 wide distribution from Tropical Africa to the Pacific islands (Schelpe and Anthony,

109 1986). In SE Asia, it was reported from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Phillippines

110 (Youxing and Prado, 2012; Shieh, 1994; Parris and Latiff, 1997). There has been no

111 reports from Lao PDR and Vietnam (Loc, 2006; Newman et al., 2007). The Thai

112 populations were overlooked by botanists for a very long time, despite the fact that

113 many expeditions have been carried out on Phu Kradueng by Thai and overseas

114 botanists. It was probably due to previous limited access to the area called “Pa-Pid”

115 on Phu Kradueng. The repeated discovery of new records and new fern species in

116 Thailand confirms us that more fieldwork still need to be carried out in the country

117 (Boonkerd and Pollawatn, 2011; Boonkerd and Pollawatn, 2012; Lindsay, Suksathan

118 and Middleton, 2010).

119 Terrestrial species with a wide distribution are often characterized by

120 phenotypic plasticity (Briggs and Walters, 1997). To investigate this phenomenon in

121 Adiantum hispidulum, dimensions and frond forms of African, New Zealand, Taiwan

122 and Thai plants are compared in Table 2. It can be seen that African plants has much

123 longer stipe and frond length than Thai and Taiwanese plants. However, the pinnules

124 sizes of all the plants are approximately the same. It is likely that the nature of

125 microenvironment plays a vital role in frond growth rather than leaflet growth. The

126 stipes and the fronds of African plants are longer in length presumably because they

127 are confined to moist and shady habitats that are appropriate in promoting fern

128 growth, while Thai plants occur mostly on rather dry slopes of sandstone valley which

129 are still not suitable to support growth (Schelpe and Anthony, 1986). The plants

130 also differ in frond forms: African and Taiwanese plants having pedate fronds, while 6

131 New Zealand plants showing pinnate, pinnate-pedate and pedate fronds. Thai plants,

132 on the other hand, have rather simple frond ramifications, bearing only pinnately

133 fronds. A. hispidulum in New Zealand display much more variations in frond forms

134 than the plants collected from the other countries. Some infraspecific taxa, e.g.

135 Adiantum hispidulum Sw. var. pubescens Large & Braggins have also been previously

136 found in this country (Large and Braggins, 1993).

137 Easily propagated from spores, Adiantum hispidulum has naturalized in southern

138 United States as well as in Hawaiian Island (Hoshizaki and Moran, 2001; Olsen, 2007;

139 Palmer, 2002). In Thailand, only glaucous maidenhair fern, Adiantum latifolium Lam.,

140 has been reported to have escaped from cultivation and become weedy species in Khao

141 Nan National Park and many southern provinces (Boonkerd, Chantanaorrapint, and

142 Khwaiphan, 2008). There are currently no reports of A. hispidulum being naturalized in

143 Thailand.

144

145 Acknowledgement

146 This work was supported by a grant from the National Research University

147 Project of CHE and the Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund (CC270A). We are

148 also indebted to Chulalongkorn University for funding our visit to the main herbaria

149 in Europe, through the Plants of Thailand Research Unit. The authors are grateful to

150 the directors and curators of BCU, BKF, BM, K, L, P, PH and S for making their

151 collections available for this study. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers

152 for their helpful comments on the manuscript. Thanks also to Sahanat Petchsri for his

153 help in an illustration, Pipat Nopsiriwong for his specimen collection and Aomtip

154 Petbanna for her help with the specimen measurements.

155 7

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202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 9

210 Table 1. Identification key. 211 1. Frond bipinnate or more compound 8. Frond bipinnate 8. A. capillus-verneris 8. Fronds bi-tripinnate 9. Rachis hairy 10. Leaflets glabrous, veins not raised 9. A. flabellulatum 10. Leaflets hairy, veins raised on both 11. A. hispidulum surfaces 9. Rachis perfectly glabrous 10. A. stenochlamys 212 213 214 215 216 217 Table 2. Comparison of Adiantum hispidulum from Southern Africa, New Zealand, 218 Taiwan and Thailand. 219 Adiantum hispidulum Stipe Frond Pinnule size Frond form length length (mm) (mm) (mm) African plants (Schelpe 290 430 10 x 6 pedate and Anthony, 1986) New Zealand plants (Large - 150 9.5 x 4.6 pinnate, and Braggins, 1993) pinnate- pedate, pedate Taiwan plants (Shieh, 1994) 60-180 120-360 - pedate Thai plant (Phu Kradueng) 170 345 9.0 x 6.0 pinnate 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 10

242 Figure 1. Adiantum hispidulum Sw. in its natural habitat near Hong Thong Falls, Phu 243 Kradueng, Loei province. Photographed by Pipat Nopsiriwong. 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 11

291 Figure 2. Adiantum hispidulum Sw.: A. Whole plant with two fronds; B. Pinnules 292 showing sori and venation; C. Rhizome scale. Drawn by Wilaiwan Nuchthongmuang 293 from P. Nopsiriwong 14 (BCU). 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335