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Image Title: Marattia howeana (W.R.B.Oliv.) P.S.Green, a rare endemic to Lord Howe
Image Credit: Andrew G. Murdock, University of California, Berkeley
AJB Editor: Judy Jernstedt, University of California - Davis
Intended End User: Teacher, Student
License Details: BSA - Terms for Image Use
Copyright held by: Murdock, BSA
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About the Image

Marattia howeana (W.R.B.Oliv.) P.S.Green, a rare endemic to Lord Howe Island with only a few known remaining populations. Several marattioid fern species, including M. howeana and the Hawaiian endemic M. douglasii (C. Presl) Baker, are seriously threatened by introduced feral pigs who favor the sweet fleshy rhizome as a food source. The fully fused synangia (fused sporangia, ca. 3–5 mm in length), characteristic of Marattia s.l., are captured in this photo just at the stage of dehiscence. This photo was taken from live material grown at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, where new methods for efficient asexual propagation of marattioid ferns are currently under development.

For further details, see Murdock: Phylogeny of marattioid ferns (Marattiaceae): inferring a root in the absence of a closely related outgroup, American Journal of Botany, Volume 95, Issue 5, pages 626-641, http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/short/95/5/626.

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