Cyclosorus interruptus

Swamp shield-fern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Athyriales
Family: Thelypteridaceae
Genus: Cyclosorus
Species: C. interruptus
Binomial name
Cyclosorus interruptus
(Willd.) H.Itô
Synonyms
  • Cyclosorus gongylodes

The Swamp shield-fern (Cyclosorus interruptus) is a fern in the Marsh Fern family, that is native to the tropics and subtropics of all the continents.[1] In the New World it is found from Mexico to Argentina, and besides in the Antilles.[2] In the Old World it is found in India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka[3] and South Africa. It is also found in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific Ocean. The various populations differ with respect to genetic cytotypes, glands, pubescence, and frond size.[2]

Its habitat is the vicinity of freshwater swamps and it may reach one metre in height. In the year 1770, it was collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander not far from Botany Bay.[4] Despite urbanization, it still occurs in a park in the Sydney bayside suburb of Monterey. The specific epithet interruptus is from the Latin, and refers to the sori.[5] The sori are in zig-zag rows or a v-shaped series along the frond margins, and are protected by a hairy, round or kidney shaped indusium.[6]

Detail of a pinna

This plant appeared first appeared in scientific literature as Pteris interrupta in 1794, published by the German taxonomist Carl Ludwig Willdenow. In 1810, it also appeared in the Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae as Nephrodium propinquum, authored by the prolific Scottish botanist, Robert Brown. However, this plant has undergone considerable review, name changes and taxonomic debate.[7]

Cultivation

Likely to be a useful landscape plant, if kept damp and in gardens free of frost.[8] There are reports that the rhizome is edible.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Bostock, Peter D. (1998). Flora of Australia 48. CSIRO.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smith, Alan R. "Thelypteris interrupta (Willdenow) K. Iwatsuki [family THELYPTERIDACEAE]". JSTOR Global Plants. Flora of North America, Vol 2. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "San Diego Fern Society".
  4. ↑ "Doug Benson and Georgina Eldershaw. Backdrop to encounter: the 1770 landscape of Botany Bay,the plants collected by Banks and Solander and rehabilitation of natural vegetation at Kurnell".
  5. ↑ Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, ISBN 978-0-7318-1211-0 page 320
  6. ↑ Native Plants of the Sydney District - Alan Fairley & Philip Moore ISBN 0-7318-1031-7, page 40
  7. ↑ "Cyclosorus interruptus - Australian Plant Name Index".
  8. ↑ "San Diego Fern Society".
  9. ↑ Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, ISBN 978-0-7318-1211-0 page 320

External links

Media related to Cyclosorus interruptus at Wikimedia Commons