Pteris cretica Linnaeus

Cretan brake

Etymology Cretica refers to the island of Crete.
Description Rhizome: short-creeping, scales minute, dark brown to chestnut brown.
Frond: 60 cm high by 25 cm wide, deciduous in colder areas, dimorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 1:1 or less.
Stipe: dark brown to straw-colored at the base, sparsely scaly at base, glabrous above, vascular bundles: 1.
Blade: 1-pinnate, irregularly ovate, papery, pale green, glabrous.
Pinnae: 2 to 5 pair, linear, lowest pair forked, lower pinnae short-stalked, upper sessile, fertile pinnae contracted; margins fertile entire, sterile serrate; veins conspicuous, free, simple or once-forked.
Sori: continuous, submarginal, indusium: false, reflexed margin of pinnae stiff, pale brown, sporangia: yellowish brown.
Culture Habitat: limestone ledges and rocky meadows. Distribution: pan tropical and subtropical, native range unknown. Hardy to -15°C, USDA Zone 7.
Synonyms
Pycnodoria cretica (Linnaeus) Small
Pteris cretica
Pteris cretica  from Ferns of North America, by Daniel Cady Eaton, 1871-1880.
Pteris cretica
Pteris cretica.  Illustration by Edgar Paulton, from How to Know the Ferns and Fern Allies, John T. Mickel, © 1979 Wm. C. Brown Co.

Pteris cretica. Habit. Maui, Hawaii.  Photo by Forest & Kim Starr (USGS)
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