DENNSTAEDTIACEAE

Bracken, Austral bracken

 

3.0m (300cm) 

None 

Spores 

Fronds stiffly erect, leathery, glabrous on upper surface, appressed fine hairs under. Lobe present where segment joins stalk. 

Break O'Day; Brighton; Burnie; Central Coast; Central Highlands; Circular Head; Clarence; Derwent Valley; Devonport; Dorset; Flinders Island; Georgetown; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Glenorchy; Hobart; Huon Valley; Kentish; King Island; Kingborough; Latrobe; Launceston; Meander Valley; Northern Midlands; Sorell; Southern Midlands; Tasman; Waratah-Wynyard; West Coast; West Tamar 

Coastal Vegetation; Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland; Grassy Vegetation; Riparian 

Widespread and abundant across most of Tasmania but broadly absent from the highlands and parts of the Midlands. Occurs in well-drained soils of most vegetation types but not usually in rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and dark fern gullies. 

Dry; Exposed; Moist 

 

Clay; Fertile; Loam; Poor; Sandy; Well-drained 

Sporelings are rarely seen except occasionally on burnt sites. Most growth is by spreading rhizomes. Under nursery glasshouse conditions blown in spores often germinate and the sporelings are fast growing. Suitable below powerlines. 

Sori inconspicuous 

 

 

 

Cultivation is difficult. 

 

No 

 

 

Yes 

Natural propagaton is by extension of rhizomes.