Cyathea hornei

Cyathea hornei
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Pteridopsida
Order:	Cyatheales
Family:	Cyatheaceae
Genus:	Cyathea
Subgenus:	Cyathea
Section:	Alsophila
Species:	C. hornei
Binomial name
Cyathea hornei (Baker) Copeland, 1929
Synonyms
Alsophila hornei Baker, 1879 Alsophila olivacea Brause, 1920 Cyathea olivacea (Brause) Domin, 1930 Cyathea melanoclada Domin, 1930

Cyathea hornei is a species of tree fern. Its natural distribution covers eastern New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago to Fiji, where it grows in wet submontane forest, stunted forest, mossy forest, and on ridges, at an altitude of 400-2000 m. The trunk of this plant is erect, 3-4 m tall and up to about 4 cm in diameter. Fronds may be pinnate or bipinnate and reach a length of 2 m. Basal scales cover the dark rachis and stipe of this species. These scales are glossy and either bicoloured (dark with a paler margin) or light brown and bullate. Sori almost cover the lower segments of fertile pinnules. Indusia are absent.

Braggins and Large (2004) note that C. hornei is a variable species across its range. Individual populations may differ in terms of minor details of the division of the pinnae and smaller basal pinnae may be either present or absent altogether.

The specific epithet hornei commemorates botanist John Horne (1835-1905), who collected numerous plants on Fiji and islands of the Indian Ocean.

References

• Braggins, John E. & Large, Mark F. 2004. Tree Ferns. Timber Press, Inc., pp. 142-143. ISBN 0-88192-630-2
• The International Plant Names Index: Cyathea hornei

External links

• Ash, J. 1987. Demography of Cyathea hornei (Cyatheaceae), a Tropical Tree-Fern in Fiji. Australian Journal of Botany 35(3): 331-342.