Clifton's Anguloa vs Clinging Snakefern

Anguloa cliftonii compared with Microgramma heterophylla

Key Differences

• Clifton's Anguloa is Critically Endangered while Clinging Snakefern is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clifton's Anguloa	Clinging Snakefern
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Tracheophyta
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)
Order	Asparagales (Asparagales)	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)
Family	Orchidaceae	Polypodiaceae
Genus	Anguloa	Microgramma
Species	Anguloa cliftonii	Microgramma heterophylla

Evolutionary Relationship

Clifton's Anguloa and Clinging Snakefern share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Plantae. (Plants)

Conservation Status

Clifton's Anguloa

CR — Critically Endangered

Clinging Snakefern

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clifton's Anguloa	Clinging Snakefern
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clifton's Anguloa

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Clinging Snakefern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Found in Cuba.

Clifton's Anguloa

Clifton's Anguloa, Anguloa cliftonii, is a striking terrestrial orchid in the family Orchidaceae native to the cloud forests of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The genus Anguloa, known as cradle orchids or tulip orchids, is celebrated among orchid enthusiasts for its large, tulip-shaped, waxy flowers that rock gently when moved, simulating the movement of a bee—a presumed pollination adaptation. The flowers of Anguloa cliftonii are creamy white to pale yellow, often with pink or rose spotting, and are produced singly on erect peduncles arising from the base of large, pleated pseudobulbs. The plant is a cool-growing epiphyte or lithophyte found in humid montane forest at elevations between approximately 1,500 and 2,500 meters in the Andes. Anguloa species are pollinated by male euglossine bees attracted to fragrant compounds. The cloud forest habitats of the Andes are among the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and simultaneously among the most threatened, subject to deforestation for agriculture, cattle ranching, and coca cultivation. Many Andean orchid species are also threatened by over-collection for the horticultural trade. Anguloa cliftonii is cultivated in specialist collections and is the subject of conservation concern in its native range.

Clinging Snakefern

Clinging Snakefern, Microgramma species, is a genus of small epiphytic ferns in the family Polypodiaceae found in tropical and subtropical forests of the Americas, from Florida and the Caribbean through Central America to South America. The ferns cling tightly to tree bark and rock surfaces using creeping rhizomes with specialized clinging scales, making them true epiphytes that depend entirely on the host surface for physical support while deriving all their water and nutrients from rainfall and atmospheric deposition. The common name 'snakefern' refers to the slender, creeping rhizomes that resemble snakes threading through moss and bark. The fronds are small and simple, either entirely fertile bearing sori on their undersurface or sterile with entire margins. Clinging snakeferns contribute to the high epiphyte diversity of tropical forest canopies and are important components of the moss-and-lichen matrix on tree trunks in humid forests. They are sensitive to moisture availability and desiccation and are among the first species to decline when humid forest is cleared or fragmented. Several Microgramma species are used as ornamental plants in warm-climate gardens for their ability to creep over rocks and tree stumps. Conservation status varies by species within the genus.