Asplenium centrafricanum Pichi Sermolli 1973
Creators: name: Fischer, Eberhard
name: Lobin, Wolfram
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Polypodiopsida
Polypodiales
Aspleniaceae
Asplenium
Asplenium centrafricanum

description: Asplenium centrafricanum Pichi Sermolli (1973: 436) (Fig. 1 A, B, Fig. 5).   
 Holotype: — BURUNDI. Prov. di Muramvya: Foresta umida montana secondaria di Bugarama, 3°14’8–29°32’ E. Nella parte inferiore vicino al torrente, 2050 m. Epifita sui tronchi a 2–6 m. dal suolo in luoghi molto ombrosi ed umidi, 19 December 1966, R.E.G.Pichi Sermolli 6992 (FI003221 [digital image!]).   
 Specimens seen:— Northern Province: Volcano NP, Hagenia-Wald süd̂stl. Karisimbi, westl. Kalago-See, 2300 m, November 1907, J.Mildbraed 1657 (B 200022887). Western Province: Gishwati-Mukura NP, epiphyte near Park Head Quarter, 4 October 2022, E.Fischer s.n. (KOBL); Kibuye (= Karongi), Gisovu, elev. 2150 m, 21 February 1972, P.Bamps 3211 (BR00000808799); Nyungwe NP, Forêt de Rugege (= Nyungwe), collines entre le mont Muzimu et le Bigugu, 3 April 1972, P.Auquier 2738 (BR0000008098184); Terrein Cyangugu (= Rusizi), Musimu-berg ZWflank, 3 March 1972, P. Van der Veken 9631 (BR0000008735850); Mont Muzimu, 9 August 1974, O.Ubonabenshi 81 (BR0000008734211); Astrida (= Huye) – Bukavu km 60, talus de la route, 10 January 1960, S.C.Antun-Gupffert 619 (BR0000016326095). Southern Province: Nyungwe NP. Colline Uwintashya, près du village de Rugera, au sud de la préfecture de Gikongoro (= Nyamagabe), 6 September 1974, P.Auquier 3966 (BR0000008735911); Gikongoro (= Nyamagabe), Rugera, près de la frontière burundaise, 2400 m, colline Uwintashya, 6 September 1974, P. Van der Veken 11135 (BR00000873549).   
 First recorded for Rwanda: — Brause & Hieronymus (1910: 12) as Asplenium sertularioides auct. non Baker.   
 Habitat: —Epiphyte, rare. Terrestrial in montane forest, elev. 2000–2800 m.   
 Endemic status: —Albertine Rift Endemic.   
 Distribution in Rwanda:—Western Province: Gishwati-Mukura NP, Nyungwe NP, Mt. Muzimu, Mt. Bigugu, Southern Province: Nyungwe NP.   
 General distribution: —Africa: D.R. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi.   
 Note: — Brause & Hieronymus (1910) identified the collection Mildbraed 1657 as Asplenium sertularioides Baker (1887: 354), that was correct at that time. Later Pichi Sermolli (1973) separated material from Central Africa as a new species A. centrafricanum. The specimen Mildbraed 1657 belongs to A. centrafricanum.   
 Recognition: —In Asplenium centrafricanum the fronds are abruptly constricted into a caudate apex, the pinnae are oblong-lanceolate to narrowly oblong-triangular with segments only slightly diminishing in length upwards, and hence the pinnae are only barely attenuate in their apical part, which is broadly obtuse to almost rounded in outline, with the lowermost acroscopic segment in the lower and middle pinnae not or scarcely longer than the middle ones and slightly different in shape. In Asplenium rutifolium, A. loxoscaphoides and A. sertularioides the fronds are tapering at apex, the pinnae narrowly triangular with segments manifestly diminishing in length upwards, and hence the pinnae are long tapering in their apical part which is long acuminate to narrowly acute in its outline or sometimes barely attenuate (in A. rutifolium), with the lowermost acroscopic segment in the lower pinnae and often also in the middle pinnae much longer and different in shape (lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, pinnatilobed to pinnatifid) from the middle segments (Fig. 1 C–G).
description: Published as part of Fischer, Eberhard & Lobin, Wolfram, 2023, Synoptic Revision of Aspleniaceae (Asplenium, Hymenasplenium) of Rwanda, pp. 1-65 in Phytotaxa 608 (1) on page 14, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.608.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8248950