| Home | > | List of families | > | Marsileaceae | > | Marsilea | > | villifolia |
| Synonyms: |
Marsilea villosa Burchell ex Bremek. & Oberm. Zaluzianskya villosa (Kaulf.) Kuntze |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | Rare |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Dry land form: stipe 7-20 cm long, very robust, up to 2.5 mm in diameter near the base. Leaflets broadly obdeltate, flanks slightly concave, outer margins irregularly crenate, rarely entire, thickly herbaceous, densely covered with silvery, silky hairs. Sporocarps: solitary, 5-6 mm long, 4-5 mm high, 1-1.5 mm thick; square to obtusely rectangular in lateral view, rectangular in dorsoventral cross-section, with or without a dorsifrontal groove, with densely appressed long hairs, gradually becoming hairless; lateral ribs not visible in fully mature specimens; lower tooth absent or just visible as a shallow hump, upper tooth not very conspicuous, rather short, broadly conical, obtuse; pedicels 4-7 mm long, erect or declined to rhizome, free, with appressed long hairs, arising from the axil of the stipe. |
| Notes: | M. villiflolia differs from other species by a combination of characters: its robust habit with much thicker stipes, the sporocarps that appear solitary at the base of the stipes and the pinnae that are densely covered with silky, silvery hairs. |
| Derivation of specific name: | villifolia: with villous leaves; a distinctive characteristic of this species is that the leaves bear long, weak hairs. |
| Habitat: | Seasonally dry pans and dry riverbeds, and along rivers. |
| Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, Namibia, South Africa |
| Botswana distribution: | N,SE |
| Growth form(s): | Aquatic, terrestrial. |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. (1990). Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Pages 76 - 78. (Includes a picture). Crouch, N.R., Klopper, R.R., Burrows, J.E. & Burrows, S.M. (2011). Ferns of Southern Africa, A comprehensive guide Struik Nature Pages 256 - 257. (Includes a picture). Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds) (2003). Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 Page 76. Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983). The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Page 486. (Includes a picture). Roux, J.P. (2001). Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report 13 Page 177. Roux, J.P. (2009). Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands Page 58. Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970). Pteridophyta Flora Zambesiaca Pages 64 - 65. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 15. |
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