• Family : OLEANDRACEAE
  (BROAD SWORD FERN FAMILY)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : OLEANDRACEAE
• Basionym : Aspidium musifolium Blume
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Oleandra musifolia (Blume) C. Presl
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : In wet deciduous forests on tree trunks in partial shade
• Comments / notes : Epiphytes or lithophytes along streams or stream banks. Locally common.
• Key identification features : Rhizome long creeping, branched, bearing two alternate rows of thick, wiry, stiff roots on the abaxial side, densely covered by appressed scales all over. Fronds simple, borne in pairs opposite to rhizome branch, stipes articulate, grey-brown, polished, extending as midrib, sparsely covered by scales. Lamina oblong-lanceolate, straight or slightly falcate, progressively narrowing, margin entire, midrib raised distinctly above and below; frond pale or yellowish-green, glossy; texture chartaceous; lamina glabrous above and below except few scattered scales on abaxial side of the midrib. Sori in two flexuous rows along the midrib; sori reniform, upto 2 mm wide; spores reniform or planoconvex, pale green.
• Collector(s) Name : FM Jarrett, C. Saldanha & T.P. Ramamoorthy; PK Rajagopal
• Collection Date : 05/09/70
• Collection Nos : HFP 692; PKR 520
• Collection Locality : Stream before Devarunde; Hassan
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Chikamagalur district, Hassan district
• Conservation Status : Rare (R)
• Literature : Fraser-Jenkins, Taxonomic revision of Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes 2008; Rajagopal & Bhat, Pteridophytic flora of Karnataka State- 1998; Manickam V.S & Irudayaraj V. (1992)- Pteridophyte flora of W.Ghats, South India
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Oleandra musifolia. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)