Selliguea feei is a fern species belonging to the genus Selliguea in the family Polypodiaceae. It was first described by the French botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent in 1824 in Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle (volume 6, page 588). The specific epithet feei commemorates the French botanist Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée.
Distribution and habitat
The species is native to China (Guangdong) and Malesia (a biogeographical region encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and surrounding areas). It grows as an epiphyte (on other plants) or lithophyte (on rocks) in wet tropical montane forests and volcanic areas, primarily in the wet tropical biome. It can be collected in Indonesia.
Description
Selliguea feei is a perennial epiphytic fern with a short creeping rhizome densely covered with golden-brown scales. It has dimorphic leaves (two distinct forms), with fertile fronds bearing confluent sori arranged in linear coenosori.
Biochemistry
Several chemical compounds have been isolated from the rhizomes of Selliguea feei:
- Selligueain A — an A-type proanthocyanidin trimer that acts as a natural sweetener.
- Selligueain B — epiafzelechin-(4β→8, 2β→O→7)-epiafzelechin-(4β→8)-3'-deoxydryopteric acid methyl ester.
- Kaempferol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside — a bitter-tasting flavonoid glycoside.
- (-)-4β-carboxymethyl epiafzelechin (3'-deoxydryopteric acid).
- (+)-afzelechin-O-β-4'-D-glucopyranoside.
Taxonomy
Selliguea feei is the type species of the genus Selliguea. A known synonym is Polypodium vulcanicum.
