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Hare's Foot Fern
Hare’s
foot fern:
Davallia
pyxidata
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The Hare’s foot fern (Davallia pyxidata) is named after its brown
rhizome, or stem, covered with brown papery scales, which may protrude from
the clump, above the ground, for up to 50cm.
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It tends to be an epiphyte,
growing on rainforest trees, on rocks or on the ground.
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Aboriginal people have
traditionally boiled the roots and stems to treat hemorrhaging.
Courtesy
of: Environmental Protection Agency, Cairns.
The Hare’s foot fern (Davillia pyxidata) is
also characterized by the following:
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Rhizome long-creeping, thick,
fleshy, covered with brown, spreading, papery scales.
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Fronds up to 1m long, deltoid,
leathery, glossy, tripinnate or quadripinnate, the fertile fronds with much
finer segments.
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Sori marginal, up to five per
segment, about as long as they are wide.
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They are a common species found on
rocks or trees in rainforest, or in protected areas in open forest.
Confusing Species:
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D. solida.
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Rumohra adiantiformis.
Distinguishing
features:
Distribution:
Cultivation:
Jones.
D.L, Clemesha. S.C., Australian Ferns and Fern Allies, 1980
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