J.R. Croft (c. 1986) email@example.com The criteria used for the
inclusion of species in this treatment of the aquatic
pteridophytes of New Guinea is totally arbitrary. It is based on
personal experience of plants growing in, or in association
with, still or moving water bodies, supplemented by references
to such plants in the botanical literature. Those totally
immersed or free floating plants pose no problems, but the
definition becomes blurred in the swampy and occasionally wet
areas where water and land meet. A broad concept of 'aquatic'
has been applied according to the following definition: 'If, on
a fine day, the collector gets arms and/or legs wet, then the
plant is an aquatic'. The major exceptions to this rather
simplistic definition are trees and epiphytes in swamp forests,
including mangroves. There are no strictly marine pteridophytes.
The greatest difficulty is in selecting which of the fifty or
more reophytic or river-side pteridophytes to include (see van
Steenis 1981). In general, only those