Blechnum fluviatile

Blechnum fluviatile
240px
Blechnum fluviatile (Māori: kiwikiwi)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida /  Pteridopsida (disputed)
Order:	Athyriales
Family:	Blechnaceae
Genus:	Blechnum
Species:	B. fluviatile
Binomial name
Blechnum fluviatile (R.Br.) Lowe ex Salomon

Blechnum fluviatile is a fern known in the Māori language as kiwikiwi. A herbaceous plant, B. fluviatile is a "hard fern" of the Blechnum genus in the Blechnaceae family. It was identified by Patrick Brownsey in 1979. Other common names are star fern, creek fern, kawakawa and kiwakiwa.

Morphology

Ladderlike fronds of B. fluviatile measure up to 50 cm (20 in) long. Growing in a distinctive ground-hugging rosette shape, its fertile fronds – dark brown and spiky – stand upright from the centre, while the drooping sterile fronds with their nearly round leaflets, form the rosette. As the parent plant ages it develops a short trunk central to a surrounding colony.

Range and ecology

The hardy B. fluviatile requires moist, shaded conditions for optimal growth. A small ground fern, the B. fluviatile is native to New Zealand and southeast Australia, a syntype common throughout the country in damp, shady areas in acidic, moist and boggy soil, beside streams in forest areas. This fern species occurs throughout much of New Zealand's forests, including much of the forested area of North Island; west, north and south coasts of South Island; and Stewart Island/Rakiura; moreover, it occurs in parts of the coastal forests of southeast Australia. Example understory flora associates in the mixed broadleaf/podocarp forests of Rakiura include Blechnum blechnoides and Blechnum durum.

History

It was collected by William Colenso in December 1841, at the precise locality of woods near Poverty Bay in the North Island.