| Actual Image
Kidney Fern (34)
LordPotty
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1449 W: 146 N: 3764]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (12035) | This is another look at one of our most attractive filmy ferns,the Kidney Fern,Trichomanes reniforme.
I've posted photos of these a few times before,so I'll use the species notes I used for one of those shots.
Kidney Ferns belong to an unusual and distinctive group of ferns called Filmy Ferns (Hymenophyllacae)
There are 27 different species of filmy ferns in New Zealand all of which grow in forests.
The fronds are delicate,tissue paper thin and translucent.
During dry spells they can shrivel up and appear brown and dead,but quickly revive when it rains.
Unlike most other ferns,the sori (spore producing structures) develop on the margins of the leaves rather than on the underside of fronds.
The sporangia are attached to long or short stalks which are protected by membraneuos flaps when young.
Trichomanes reniforme is one of our most unusual filmy ferns.It has fronds with slender stalks up to 25cm long and kidney shaped to round undivided shiny blades 3-10cm long x 4-13 cm wide.
It often forms extensive mats on the forest floor and sometimes climbs up rocks or tree trunks.
They make a spectacular sight when the low evening or morning sun shines through a large swathe of them creating an almost neon glow.
In fruiting season the margins of the leaves are crowded around with brown powdery sporangia which project slightly from prominent protective cups.
In the spring and summer,I will post more shots of the fruiting ferns,with their rows of spore producing sporangia around the leaf margins.
In this shot you can also see one of our native Maidenhair ferns.
Hope you like it.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Steve |
|
