| Pteris vittata | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pteridophyta |
| Class: | Pteridopsida |
| Order: | Pteridales |
| Family: | Pteridaceae |
| Genus: | Pteris |
| Species: | P. vittata |
| Binomial name | |
| Pteris vittata L. [1] |
|
| Synonyms[2] | |
Pteris vittata, commonly known variously as the Chinese brake,[3] Chinese ladder brake,[3] or simply ladder brake,[3] is a species of fern in the genus Pteris. It is indigenous to Asia, tropical Africa and Australia.[3] The type specimen was collected in China by Pehr Osbeck.[1]
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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, Australia.[4][5]
Pteris vittata is native and wide spread 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; Swaziland; 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,[4] Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia.[3]
It is an introduced species in California, Texas, and the Southeastern United States.[6]
Although it grows readily in the wild, Pteris vittata is sometimes cultivated.[3] It is grown in gardens for its attractive appearance,[3] or used in pollution control schemes:[3] it is known to be a hyperaccumulator plant of arsenic used in phytoremediation.[7]