Alsophila glaucifolia
| Cyathea glauca | |
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| Cyathea glauca growing near the village of la Plaine des Palmistes, Réunion. | |
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| Species: | C. glauca
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| Binomial name | |
| Cyathea glauca Bory, 1804
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Cyathea glauca is a species of tree fern endemic to Réunion. Little is known about this species. C. glauca is not to be confused with Cyathea glauca (Fourn., 1872) used as a synonym of Cyathea mexicana.
Habitat and related species
C. glauca grows at higher altitudes (1300-2000m) and it is one of three species of tree fern that are indigenous to Réunion island.
- Cyathea excelsa, which also occurs in Mauritius, grows at slightly lower altitudes (200-1700m). Like C. glauca, its leaves are tripinnate, but the new fronds of Cyathea excelsa are scaleless; those of C. glauca have red-brown scales.
- Cyathea borbonica var. borbonica is the only species with bipinnate fronds.[1][2]
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The fronds of Cyathea glauca are tripinnate (branching to three levels). -
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Detail of trunk and insertion of fronds. New growth is covered in red-brown scales. This serves to distinguish the species from the alien, non-indigenous Cyathea cooperi, which has red and white scales on its new growth. -
The alien Cyathea cooperi can be distinguished from C.glauca by the red and white scales on its new fronds.
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References
- ^ M. Glaubrecht (2010): Evolution in Action: Case studies in Adaptive Radiation, Speciation and the Origin of Biodiversity. Springer Science & Business Media. Science. p.13.
- ^ A revision of the fern family Cyatheaceae in the Mascarene Islands (2006)
External links
Media related to Alsophila glaucifolia at Wikimedia Commons
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