Re: [RML] Microsorium brassii

Dave Wilson (aqua.green at bigpond.com)
Wed, 26 Oct 2005 06:35:41 +0930

Leach and Osbourne, 1985 "Freshwater Plants of Papua New Guinea" pages 57 -
59 writes about Microsorium brassii (spelling from book) and lists locations
Lohiki Village, Vialala, Lae, Musgrave River, Kikori, Kwagira River, Pongani
Falls Gorge near Dareki.

There is a diagram in the book I can scan and send to you if you like. One
of the Authors of that book, Greg Leach lives here in Darwin and is a
natural resources manager in the Parks and Wildlife Service.

There is also a Microsorum grossum (Langsd. & Fisch.) S.B.Andrews (Spelling
from Parks and Wildlife Service, NT Australia checklist of NT plants) here
in the top of NT where I live but as yet I have not come across it during my
travels. I also have no idea if it is aquatic.

Cheers
Dave

>
> Of course, after some more research, I came across the alledged PNG
> Java Fern: Microsorium brassii. It's got narrower leaves than
> Microsorium pteropus (normal Java Fern).
>
> However, I've been unable to find a place to purchase this M. brassii.
> I did however find "Narrow Leaf Java Fern" grown by Tropica.
> Here's a link: http://www.tropica.com/productcard.asp?id=008A
>
> But there seems to be some discussion whether the Tropica plant is the
> same as M. brassii. Some say the real M. brassii still looks somewhat
> different and that Tropica's "Narrow" is a cultivated variant.
>
> So I was wondering, does anyone have M. brassii and perhaps has some
> pictures of it? So I can compare with this "Narrow Leaf" variant by
> Tropica?
>
> Perhaps anyone even knows if (and where) M. brassii is commercially
> available? Because if not, I'll be once again on a wild goose chase. ;)
>
> Greetings
>
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