Nephrolepis cordifolia, is a fern native to the global tropics, including northeastern Australia and Asia. It has many common names including fishbone fern, tuberous sword fern, tuber ladder fern, erect sword fern, narrow sword fern and ladder fern, and herringbone fern.[1] It is similar to the related fern Nephrolepis exaltata.

Nephrolepis cordifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Suborder:	Polypodiineae
Family:	Nephrolepidaceae
Genus:	Nephrolepis
Species:	N. cordifolia
Binomial name
Nephrolepis cordifolia (L.) K. Presl
Synonyms
Aspidium cordifolium (L.) Sw. Aspidium pendulum (Raddi) Aspidium tuberosum Bory ex Willd Aspidium volubile (Sm.) F.M.Bailey Nephrodium pendulum (Raddi) Desv. Nephrodium tuberosum (Bory ex Willd.) Desv Nephrolepis auriculata (L.) Trimen Nephrolepis radicans (Burm.f.) Kuhn Nephrolepis tuberosa (Bory ex Willd.) C.Presl Polypodium cordifolium L.

Description

Nephrolepis cordifolia is an evergreen fern that grows to between 40 and 80 centimeters, in extreme cases up to 1 meter. It forms an underground rhizome in the form of several small tubers. The pinnate fronds are erect and pinnate linear to lanceolate, glandular and simple. The rachis bears bicolored chaff scales. The petiole is covered with bicolored pale and dark brown scales.

The leaflets are entire, sessile and elongate-lanceolate. They grow up to 4.8 centimeters long and up to 0.9 cm wide. They stand at a distance of less than 1 centimeter. The sori are rounded. The spores are warty, wrinkled.

Distribution

The species is native in north-eastern Australia and on the slopes of the Himalayas, and is considered naturalised on the central east coast of New South Wales.[1] They can grow both terrestrially and as an epiphyte. However, the species grows very rarely as an epiphyte. It grows mainly in moist, shady groves, rock faces, roadsides, on old walls or ruins. It loves moist, shady locations and is commonly found in swamps and floodplains in coniferous forests.

It has been introduced into Bermuda, French Polynesia, New Zealand, and the United States.[2] It is also widely distributed by humans and is currently found in tropical regions of North, Central and South America (mainly in Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida), in Africa, Southeast Asia, the islands of the Pacific and on the Azores. In the Hawaiian Islands it is known as kupukupu, okupukupu or ni'ani'au [3]

Invasive species

Nephrolepis cordifolia has become an invasive species is some areas where it has been introduced. In New Zealand it is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord, which prohibits the sale, cultivation and distribution of the plant. It is listed as an invasive species in Florida, United States.[4]

Gallery

• 
  'Nephrolepis cordifolia spreading on a forest and pasture margin in the Waikato region in New Zealand
• 
  Nephrolepis cordifolia root system showing a tuber.
• 
  Nephrolepis cordifolia 'Duffii' at Garfield Park Conservatory
• 
  Pot plant
• 
  Nephrolepis cordifolia at the New York Botanical Garden
• 
  Growing down on a planked wall
• 
  Growing between rocks

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nephrolepis cordifolia.

• Nephrolepis cordifolia at the Global Invasive Species Database (Invasive Species Specialist Group)
• "Nephrolepis cordifolia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
• Nephrolepis cordifolia at Weedbusters (New Zealand)
• Nephrolepis cordifolia at the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (United States)

На других языках

[es] Nephrolepis cordifolia