Racopilum cuspidigerum

Two varieties with Racopilum cuspidigerum var. convolutaceum occurring in Victoria. Racopilum cuspidigerum var. cuspidigerum occurs in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia and is distinguished from Racopilum cuspidigerum var. convolutaceum by lacking mammillose laminal cells. The mammillosity of cells displays clinal variation, with Racopilum cuspidigerum in tropical regions mostly completely smooth celled and attributable to Racopilum cuspidigerum var. cuspidigerum, those in southern Queensland and New South Wales are mostly intermediate in that they have smooth and more or less mammillose cells on the same plant and even the same leaf, while in Victoria, West and South Australia and Tasmania the vast majority have distinctly mammillose cells. Very few specimens from Victoria have leaves with nearly smooth cells. It has been suggested that in these cases this morphology may have been due to the exceptionally high humidity of their sites of occurrence and for practicality all Victorian plants are included here under Racopilum cuspidigerum var. convolutaceum. Intermediates and clinal variation in mammillosity justifies the recognition of these taxa at the rank of variety rather than as separate species. For full profile see Racopilum cuspidigerum var. convolutaceum.