A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the large leaves of cycads, as well as palms (Arecaceae) and various other flowering plants, such as mimosa or sumac. "Frond" is commonly used to identify a large, compound leaf, but if the term is used botanically to refer to the leaves of ferns and algae it may be applied to smaller and undivided leaves.
The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in western Tasmania. The ecoregion is part of the Australasian realm, which includes Tasmania and Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and adjacent islands.
The Hymenophyllaceae are a family of two to nine genera and ca 650 known species of ferns, with a subcosmopolitan distribution, but generally restricted to very damp places or to locations where they are wetted by spray from waterfalls or springs. A recent fossil find shows that ferns of Hymenophyllaceae have existed since at least the Upper Triassic.
Hymenophyllum is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae. Its name means "membranous leaf", referring to the very thin translucent tissue of the fronds, which gives rise to the common name filmy fern for this and other thin-leaved ferns. The leaves are generally only one cell thick and lack stomata, making them vulnerable to desiccation. Consequently, they are found only in very humid areas, such as in moist forests and among sheltered rocks. They are small and easy to overlook.
Hymenophyllum nephrophyllum, the kidney fern, is a filmy fern species native to New Zealand. It commonly grows on the forest floor of open native bush. Individual kidney-shaped fronds stand about 5–10 cm tall. In hot weather they shrivel up to conserve moisture, but open up again when the wet returns. This species has very thin fronds which are only four to six cells in thickness. In the Māori language they are also called raurenga.
Parablechnum wattsii, synonym Blechnum wattsii, is a common terrestrial fern growing in rainforest and open forest. It is often seen near creeks in much of south eastern Australia, including Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. The specific epithet wattsii honours William Walter Watts (1856-1920). Watts was considered an authority on mosses and ferns and has more than 30 species named for him. Common names by which the species may be called are hard water fern - from its stiff leathery fronds, leech fern - as forest workers often encounter leaches while working in clusters of these ferns, hard hill fern - from the fern's habit and habitat, and red cabbage fern - from the bronze-pink colour of the young fronds resembling cooked red cabbage.
Hymenophyllum moorei is a rare species of filmy fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. It is endemic to the high cloud forest at Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird at Lord Howe Island. A small epiphytic fern found usually on tree trunks and fallen logs.
Hymenophyllum cupressiforme is a southern hemisphere species of filmy fern. Found in moist sheltered areas, in or near rainforests. Occasionally found in drier protected areas. Leaves one cell thick. A small epiphytic fern found on tree trunks, rocks and fallen logs.
Adiantum hispidulum, commonly known as rough maidenhair fern or five-fingered jack, is a small fern in the family Pteridaceae of widespread distribution. It is found in Africa, Australia, Polynesia, Malesia, New Zealand and other Pacific Islands. Its fronds rise in clumps from rhizomes among rocks or in the soil in sheltered areas.
Histiopteris incisa, the bat's wing fern, water fern or fern mata, is a common plant found in Australia, New Zealand and other islands in the south Pacific region. Usually found in moist areas, where it may form large colonies. The lowermost lobes of each pinnae have a bat wing like appearance, giving the fern its common name.
Hymenophyllum australe, commonly known as austral filmy fern, is a relatively large rupestral and epiphytic fern, indigenous to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It belongs to the unique Hymenophyllum genus, which are characterised by their thin membranous fronds that are seldom more than one cell thick, with the exception of regions over and around veins. Hymenophyllum australe is distinctive in that the fronds are typically thicker than other Hymenophyllum species, often being up to 2-3 cells thick.
Hymenophyllum flabellatum, the shiny filmy-fern, is a species of fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. This delicate fern is commonly epiphytic and is between 5 and 25 cm in length. It is distinct, with its thin, one-celled thick, membranous leaves. It is from the family Hymenophyllaceae and is dispersed world wide. The species is dispersed highly throughout Tasmanian rainforests and in the south east of mainland Australia, with small pockets of the population seen in northern Queensland.
Vandenboschia boschiana, synonym Trichomanes boschianum, the Appalachian bristle fern or Appalachian filmy fern, is a small delicate perennial leptosporangiate fern which forms colonies with long, black creeping rhizomes. The evergreen fronds are bipinnatifid, deeply and irregularly dissected, about 4 to 20 cm long, 1 to 4 cm across with winged stipes 1 to 7 cm long and light green in colour. The common name derives from the leaves which are very thin, only a single cell thick, missing an epidermis and translucent, giving the appearance of a wet film.
Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, the Tunbridge filmy fern or Tunbridge filmy-fern, is a small, fragile perennial leptosporangiate fern which forms large dense colonies of overlapping leaves from creeping rhizomes. The common name derives from the leaves which are very thin, only a single cell thick, and translucent, giving the appearance of a wet film. The evergreen fronds are bipinnatifid, deeply and irregularly dissected, about 3 to 6 cm long, 2 cm across with dark winged stipes. In contrast to the similar H. wilsonii the fronds are more divided, flattened, appressed to the substrate and tend to have a bluish tint.
Tasmania is home to 'Australia’s largest cool temperate rainforests... Most of Tasmania’s rainforests occur in the North-West and throughout the North East highlands. Cool temperate rainforests typically have a heavy rainfall, cool climate, favor high altitudes and have a limited availability of light.
Polyphlebium venosum, the veined bristle-fern or bristle filmy fern, is a fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. It is only found in wet forests, mainly growing as an epiphyte on the shady side of the soft tree fern, Dicksonia antartica. It also grows on logs, trunks of trees and rarely on trunks of Cyathea species or on wet rock-faces. It is found in the wetter parts of Eastern Australia and New Zealand. P. venosum has poor long-distance dispersal compared to other ferns due to its short lived spore. Notable features of Polyphlebium venosum include it being one cell layer thick, 5–15 cm in length, having many branching veins and a trumpet shaped indusium.
Hymenophyllum peltatum, is a species of filmy fern widely distributed across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America. Predominantly a rainforest species with delicate foliage arrangements, also known as the 'alpine filmy-fern'. Members of the Hymenophyllaceae family display almost translucent fronds, bearing thickness of just a single cell.
Hymenophyllum falklandicum, the Falklands filmy fern, is a plant in the fern family Hymenophyllaceae. It is native to southern South America and some subantarctic islands.
Crepidomanes minutum is small fern in the filmy fern family which grows throughout the Pacific. It is commonly referred to as tiny bristle fern. The specific epithet 'minutus' means small in latin, referring to the small fronds
