Adiantum poiretii
Adiantum poiretii is a maidenhair fern in the family Pteridaceae. It is a perennial with a creeping underground stem, or rhizome. Its native range spans much of tropical and subtropical America, parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the western Indian Ocean, the south-western Arabian Peninsula, south-western India and Sri Lanka.[1]
Appearance
The fronds branch repeatedly into small, rounded or fan-shaped segments. Dark, glossy stalks contrast with the thin green leaf tissue. A southern African account describes upright to arching fronds reaching about seventy-five centimetres, with a roughly triangular outline.[2]
The Mexican flora describes fronds twenty to sixty-five centimetres long and a yellow powder among the spore cases. These cases are borne beneath modified, folded-back edges of the small leaf segments. The description records three to eight such groups per segment.[3]
Habitat and growth
Roux's southern African account records the fern on soil or rock, commonly beside permanent streams in light shade. It spreads vegetatively through slender underground branches. Where moisture remains available, growth need not follow a sharply defined season.[2]
In the Mexican Bajío region, the 2019 flora records shaded ravines, stream banks and some exposed roadsides, across several forest types at one thousand to three thousand metres. It reports many localities where the fern was abundant, alongside municipalities where it was scarce. This is a regional assessment, not a measure of global abundance.[3]
The same flora questions a specimen label reporting growth on another plant. It treats that unusual record as requiring confirmation, rather than establishing that the species normally grows as an epiphyte.[3]
Name
The species name honours the French botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret.[2] Kew accepts Wikström's name, published in 1826, and lists Adiantum crenatum Poir. as a synonym. It also recognises varieties and a form within the species; this account concerns the species as a whole.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Adiantum poiretii Wikstr. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Roux, J. P. (2003). Swaziland ferns and fern allies. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report 19, pp.89–90. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Velázquez Montes, E. (2019). Pteridaceae. Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes 210; Adiantum poiretii account. Instituto de Ecología. Accessed 9 October 2026.