Species

Schizaea bifida

Common Name(s)

forked comb fern

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Schizaea bifida Willd.

Family

Schizaeaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

SCHBIF

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Ferns

Synonyms

Acrostichum bifida (Willd.) Poir

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: North Island (Te Paki to Lake Taupo and East Cape, Wellington), South Island (North-West Nelson to Westport). Also Australia and New Caledonia.

Habitat

Coastal to montane - mostly in open clay pans and shrubland (especially gumland scrub). Often in drought prone habitats. However, on occasion Schizaea bifida has also been collected from restiad peat bogs. It is also locally common in geothermal areas where it grows amongst moss and in open shrubland.

Features

Rhizomatous, tufted fern. Rhizome short-creeping, densely clothed with glossy pale to dark brown hairs. Fronds clustered, erect, 70-550 mm long, 0.6-1.2 mm wide, subterete, furrowed on 1 side or flattened, smooth to scabrid, undivided or dichtomously divided 1 or more times, pubescent at first, becoming smooth or scabrid; sterile fronds shorter and more divided than sporogenous ones or, more rarely, absent; sporogenous heads ovate-triangular to obliquely oblong, 5-30 mm long, 2-4x longer than broad, broadest near the base, tapering distally, often recurved; segments 5-12 mm long, smooth to scabrid; margins with long, brown hairs. Sporangia mixed with pale brown hairs. Description from Chinnock (1998)

Similar Taxa

Undivided forms of Schizaea bifida are distinguished from S. fistulosa (with which it often grows) by the sporogenous heads with are 2-4 times longer than broad and with the lower most pair of segments the longest. Divided forms of Schizaea bifida are easily distinguished from S. dichotoma by the sterile and fertile frond segments not arranged in a fan-shape.

Flowering

N.A.

Flower Colours

No Flowers

Fruiting

N.A.

Propagation Technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened.

Chromosome No.

2n = 154

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Where To Buy

Not commercially available


Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 March 2011.

References and further reading

Chinnock, R.J. 1998: Schizaeaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 177-187.

This page last updated on 11 Aug 2014