Pteris vittata

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Pteris vittata
Pteris vittata.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Pteridaceae
Genus: Pteris
Species:
P. vittata
Binomial name
Pteris vittata
Synonyms [3]

Pteris vittata, the Chinese brake, [4] Chinese ladder brake, [4] or simply ladder brake, [4] is a fern species in the Pteridoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. [5] It is indigenous to Asia, southern Europe, tropical Africa, and Australia. [4] The type specimen was collected in China by Pehr Osbeck. [2]

Contents

Habitat and distribution

Pteris vittata is native and widespread in the paleotropics: found from the east, to the south tropical, and southern Africa (in Angola; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Tanzania (including the Zanzibar Archipelago); Cape Province, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Transvaal in South Africa; Eswatini; Uganda; Zambia; and Zimbabwe); temperate and tropical Asia (in the provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan in China; the prefectures of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan; and Thailand); and Australia, in the states of New South Wales, [6] Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. [4]

Pteris vittata is often associated with limestone habitats. It may be seen growing on concrete structures and cracks, in buildings in the central business district and suburbs of Sydney. [6] [7] It is an introduced species in California, Texas, and the Southeastern United States. [8]

A remnant population exists in the Italian peninsula, in Sicily, Calabria and Campania. [9]

Uses

Although it grows readily in the wild, Pteris vittata is sometimes cultivated. [4] It is grown in gardens for its attractive appearance, [4] or used in pollution control schemes: [4] it is known to be a hyperaccumulator plant of arsenic used in phytoremediation. [10]

Suggested reading

References

  1. Lansdown, R.V. (2013). "Pteris vittata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T177137A1468608. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. 1 2  Pteris vittata was originally described and published in Species Plantarum 2: 1074. 1753. "Name - Pteris vittata L." Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden . Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  3. "Name - Pteris vittata L. synonyms". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pteris vittata". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  5. Christenhusz, Maarten J. M.; Zhang, Xian-Chun; Schneider, Harald (18 February 2011). "A linear sequence of extant families and genera of lycophytes and ferns" (PDF). Phytotaxa . 19: 7–54. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.19.1.2. ISSN   1179-3163.
  6. 1 2 "Pteris vittata, PlantNET - NSW Flora Online, Retrieved June 23, 2011".
  7. Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, ISBN   978-0-7318-1211-0 page 318
  8. "USDA Plants Database". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  9. Giardina G. (2010). Piante rare della Sicilia. Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo. ISBN   9788890310836.
  10. Wilkins, Carolyn, and Salter, Leo. (2003). Arsenic hyperaccumulation in ferns: A review. Environmental Chemistry Group Bulletin of the Royal Society of Chemistry. July 2003 edition.