Pityrogramma calomelanos

Pteridaceae

Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) Link

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/101958

Silver Fern, Golden Fern

Fronds ±erect, dark green, glossy. Stipe 10–50 cm long, with 2 or 4 vascular bundles. Lamina 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, ovate, narrowly ovate, triangular or narrowly triangular, 15–45 cm long, 6–27 cm wide; veins obscure. Sporangia spread uniformly over the fertile segments.

var. calomelanos

Rhizome scales with an apical portion of 8–10 uniseriate cells; apical cell conical, eglandular. Stipe 15–50 cm long, with 2 vascular bundles. Lamina usually shorter than the stipe, 15–45 cm long, 6–27 cm wide; abaxial surface with white waxy indumentum, rarely glabrous; lowermost pinnae the largest.

var.  austroamericana

Rhizome scales with an apical portion of 8–10 uniseriate cells; apical cell spherical, sometimes glandular. Stipe 10–40 cm long, with 2 large and 2 small vascular bundles. Lamina 15–40 cm long, 9–15 cm wide; abaxial surface with golden yellow waxy indumentum; lowermost pinnae c. the same length as, or smaller than, the pair immediately above.

A South American fern widely naturalised in tropical Australia and other tropical and subtropical places.

A common weed in cracks of buildings and paving or among rocks. Usually associated with human disturbance, less common in undisturbed areas.

A widely dispersed weedy fern.