Lindsaea orbiculata var. commixta
Content
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo (Sarawak present); India present; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Philippines (Philippines present); Sulawesi (Sulawesi present); Sumatera (Sumatera present); Thailand (Thailand present), Ceylon present, Luzon present, S. Japan present, SE. China present, Sumba present
SE. China, India, Ceylon, Indo-China, S. Japan, Thailand, to Malesia: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Philippines (Luzon), Celebes, Sumba, Sarawak.
Notes
L. orbiculata is one of the most variable species of the genus, resulting in a comparatively extensive synonymy. The two varieties distinguish- ed here are not entirely sharply distinct, partly because depauperate plants from rock fissures etc. often cannot be assigned with certainty to one of them, e.g. the type of L. montana Copeland, partly because the differences between them are of a gradual rather than fundamental order. Nevertheless the majority of the specimens can be assigned to one of them. Var. commixta is more common to the North of Malesia, particularly in Japan, where it is fairly sharply distinct from var. orbiculata but is not entirely sharply distinguishable from L. chienii Ching which I prefer to treat as a species but which may also prove to be only a variety of L. orbiculata. Many more field and also cytotaxonomic observations are needed before the status of the species of this group can be ascertained.