Pteris cretica

Dear Fern Growers:

	Last week when I was botanizing in the Florida panhandle, I visited the
Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna.  This natural area is filled with
Pteris cretica.  In Nelson's Ferns of Florida, he describes this as a
native of Florida and not introduced.  Nelson cites an early 1800's account
when this fern was described from the panhandle with the author noting that
although this was an Asian species, there was no sign of plant introduction
in this area and this population must be native to the area.  Where I have
seen this fern in the wild around the southeast, it usually occurs with
other introduced fern species such as Cyrtomium fortunei.  This was not the
case in the Florida population.  I'm curious if others on the list have
thoughts about these populations of Pteris cretica as a native US plant and
if these have ever been DNA analyzed and compared against Asian
collections.  Thanks.  
Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, NC  27603  USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website  http://www.plantdel.com
phone 919 772-4794
fax  919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least
three times" - Avent

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE FERNS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index