Pteridaceae
Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes - Online edition
Pteris pacifica
Pteris pacifica Hieron.
Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/116246
Comb Brake
Large terrestrial ferns. Rhizome short, erect, scaly; scales narrowly triangular with a dark central band and broad hyaline erose margins. Fronds slightly dimorphic. Stipe erect, 15–45 (–95) cm long, pale stramineous; base with attenuate scales c. 13 mm long and 0.5 mm wide. Lamina 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, oblong or ovate, c. as long as stipe, herbaceous to chartaceous. Pinnae narrowly ovate, attenuate; largest pinnae c. 10–15 (–30) cm long, c. 2.5 (–4) cm wide; lowermost pinnae with 1 or 2 large pinnatifid pinnules growing from the lower side close to the rachis; pinna lobes cut almost to the costa, linear, obtuse, c. 3 mm wide; lower surface finely hairy, glabrescent; upper surface with spine-like growths on the costules; veins free, usually once-forked. Sori usually not extending to bases and apices of pinna segments; indusium very narrow, entire; paraphyses abundant.
Ranging from the Windsor Tableland to the Whitsundays in
Terrestrial in mesic vine forest from sea level to 1300 m.
Readily cultivated in the ground or a container in a tropical or subtropical garden or fernhouse.
Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/intro/index.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).
Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) ‘Platycerium superbum’, in Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/entities/platycerium_superbum.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).