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| Description: |
Plant with main stem climbing and winding to the left (sinistrovolubile), up to 40–50 cm long and about 0.75 mm in diam., straw-yellow, glabrous, with prominent ribs, with a furrow in the upper part, sparsely branched; rhizophores along its entire length, filiform, straw-yellow, usually forming a right angle with the stem and up to 5 cm long; branches simple, pinnate or bipinnate, oval around their circumference, few and far between. Main stem leaves homomorphous, 2–2.5 mm apart, pale green, c. 2 x 0.5 mm, oblong-lanceolate in outline, apex tapering to a sharp point, base slightly unequal, auriculate at base, margin subentire to shortly and loosely toothed; leaves of branches heteromorphic, pale green; lateral leaves contiguous, c. 1.5 x 0.6–0.7 mm, apex short or long tapering, base slightly unequal, margin hyaline margin, midrib inconspicuous and not quite reaching apex, half-face acroscopic semi-elliptical to lanceolate, rounded at base, with denticulate margin, half-face basiscopic semi-linear to oblong, truncate at base, with loosely serrate margin; middle leaves imbricated, c. 1 x 0.5 mm, lanceolate in outline, curved, apex long tapering, base slightly unequal, auriculate, margin toothed, with conspicuous midrib; axillary leaves c. 1.5 x 0.5 mm, oblong-lanceolate in outline, apex tapering, base truncate to auriculate, margin serrulate, with conspicuous midrib. Strobile solitary at end of last branches, c. 0.5 x 0.2 cm. Sporophylls homomorphic, 1.3–1.4 x 0.6–0.7 mm (the basal ones slightly larger), ovate-triangular, with hyaline margin, irregularly serrulate, long acuminate; heterosporus. |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | congoensis: from Congo, this fern is only found in DR Congo. |
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| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Bizzarri, M.P. (1985). Selaginellaceae Flore d' Afrique Centrale National Botanic Garden of Belgium Pages 17 - 18. |