Australian Tropical Ferns

Identification of Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes

Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes is a fern and lycophyte identification and information system for species occurring in northern Australia north of Mackay. It was developed at the Australian Tropical Herbarium by Ashley Field, Chris Quinn and Frank Zich, to supplement the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants 8 (2020) and Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids (2010) systems which together cover the seed plants. A separate information system for ferns and lycophytes was required because a specialised and unique character set is necessary for their identification. This version 1 incorporates feedback on beta versions from our expert test panel. We would appreciate further feedback to help us improve the key which we intend to update biennially.

Data Observations

This key was built using preserved specimens held in public collection institutions that were carefully dissected, observed, interpreted and the features scored by trained botanists. The majority of observations were made on specimens in the Australian Tropical Herbarium (CNS), with additions from the Queensland Herbarium (BRI). The dataset was augmented with coding from published descriptions including the Flora of Australia, especially for species where no complete herbarium materials were known. The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH - https://avh.ala.org.au/) was used as a basis for distribution descriptions. As distribution information is constantly updated when specimens are reidentified and new specimens are lodged in Australian Herbaria, it is recommended to search the current known distribution of a species in AVH.

Acknowledgements

Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes was developed at the Australian Tropical Herbarium by personnel from CSIRO, James Cook University and the Queensland Herbarium (Queensland Department of Environment and Science). In addition to the authors, the character set was developed and revised with input from John Connors, Peter Bostock and Jim Croft. We thank Andrew Franks, Bruce Gray, Robert Jago, David Jones, Garry Sankowsky and Nada Sankowsky for supplying photographs. The project was supported in part by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS).

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