|
Maidenhair Fern
Photo Courtesy of: Heaton's Nursery
Nambour
Maidenhair
fern Adiantum
hispidulum
-
Recognizable by their
fine black stems and frilly fan-shaped leaflets.
-
The Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum
hispidulum) is very common in the Wet Tropics.
-
It is found growing in
moist open sites along river and track banks.
-
It is a very popular
plant for gardeners and is an ideal house plant.
Courtesy of:
Environmental Protection Agency, Cairns.
-
Also known as the ‘Rough
Maidenhair’, it is characterized by the following:
-
Rhizome short-creeping, branched,
very wiry; fronds numerous, erect or semi-erect up to 35cm long.
-
Stipes black, shiny, stout,
tufted, scabrid.
-
Fronds bipinnate to tripinnate.
-
Pinnules tough, pale green to dark
green, bearing minute, white hairs, up to 12mm broad, the outer margin
toothed, asymmetrically attached by a thin, short petiole.
-
Six to fourteen sori per pinnule,
in deep notches on the outer margins.
-
It is a widespread fern that grows from shaded rainforest to open rocky
situations, where it withstands the hot dry summers by curling the
fronds.
-
The new fronds are a delicate pink
colour.
Confusing
species:
Distinguishing
features:
Distribution:
-
Qld, NSW, Vic, NT, (Central
Australia); also NZ, Pacific islands, tropical Asia and Africa.
Cultivation:
Jones.
D.L, Clemesha. S.C., Australian Ferns and Fern Allies, 1980
|
