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Ribbon Fern
Ribbon Fern: Ophioglossum pendulum
- Fleshy white creeping plant with sausage-like ribbed divided leaves up to 15cm
long..
- Its fronds are strap-like, fleshy, brittle, bright green and usually twisted.
They can be up to two centimetres wide and ninety centimetres long.
- Sterile fronds hang downwards.
- This fern usually grows out of Platycerium species, such as the Elkhorn
and Staghorn Fern, but, it also grows in rainforest litter collected in trunk hollow and
branches.
- The Ribbon Fern is intolerant of dryness and is confined to the rainforest.
- Its distribution is in Queensland, New South Wales as far south as the Hunter
River, from the coast to the ranges and tablelands.
- It can be cultivated in baskets of Platycerium peat where it forms
attractive large clumps.
- It is a member of the Ophioglossaceae family, and its genus contains about 30
species, 4 found in Australia. The terrestrial species are widespread but the epiphytes
are confined to the Tropics.
- Ribbon Ferns resent disturbance, but can be grown in glasshouses or in humid
situations.
- Others in the family include the Adder’s Tongue and the Large Adder’s
Tongue.
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