Christella dentata

Christella dentata
Christella dentata at Chatswood West, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Athyriales
Family: Thelypteridaceae
Genus: Christella[1]
Species: C. dentata
Binomial name
Christella dentata
(Forssk.) Brownsey & Jermy
Synonyms

Cyclosorus nymphalis (G.Forst.)

Christella dentata is a small fern with widespread distribution in Australia and islands in the south Pacific Ocean. There are many local common names. In New South Wales it grows north from the southern Illawarra region and is known as Binung.

Found on the margins of rainforest, by streams or in more open forests with adequate moisture. Sori are circular in shape,[2] with a hairy closed covering.

It was the first species of fern to become naturalised on the Hawaiian Islands, recorded intiially in Oahu in 1887 and now found on all major islands there. There it interbreeds with the local species C. cyatheoides, with the resultant hybrid offspring sterile.[3]

References

  1. http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/C/Christella_dentata/
  2. "Christella dentata". PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  3. Daniel Dooley Palmer (2003). Hawaiʻi's ferns and fern allies. University of Hawaii Press. p. 85. ISBN 0-8248-2522-5.