New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
  • Member login
  • Join
Facebook
  • Home
  • Flora
    • Flora species
    • Vascular
    • Non Vascular
    • Plant identification
    • Fungi
    • Make your own book
    • Quiz
  • Threats
    • Exotic Plants (Weeds)
    • Pest Animals
    • Other threats
  • Ecosystems
    • Plant communities
    • Ecosystem services
    • Novel ecosystems
  • Publications
    • Documents
    • Newsletter
    • Plant lists
    • Botanical Society journals
    • NZPCN publications
  • Conservation
    • Seedbank
    • Training
    • Restoration
    • Monitoring
    • Habitat protection
    • Funding
    • Botanic gardens
  • NZPCN
    • News
    • Trilepidea newsletter
    • Events
    • David Given Scholarship
    • Members
    • Council members
    • Awards
    • Shop
    • Donate
    • Favourite Plant
    • Why join NZPCN?
    • Join
  • Help
    • FAQ
    • Query
    • Glossary
  • Contact us

Search flora

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Flora
  3. Flora species
  4. Dendroconche scandens

Dendroconche scandens

Microsorum scandens.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain.
Microsorum scandens.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>.
Tokatoka Hill, Northland. Jul 2006.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>.
Under the leaf of Microsorum scandens.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Microsorum scandens (Mokimoki).<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Leaf of Microsorum scandens.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Upper Hutt. Aug 2012.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Download PDF Comment on factsheet

NZPCN members can select up to 20 plant species and automatically create a full colour, fully illustrated A4 book describing them (in PDF format).

  • Find out more...
  • Join NZPCN...
Find in plant lists
Traditional Maori Uses Click here to view Te Papa View specimens Donate Support NZPCN

Common name

Fragrant fern, mokimoki

Synonyms

Phymatosorus scandens (G. Forst.) C. Presl; Phymatosorus scandens (G. Forst.) Pic. Serm.; Polypodium pustulatum sensu A.Cunn.; Microsorium pustulatum sensu Dobbie; Phymatodes pustulata sensu Hook.f.; Phymatosorus scandens (G.Forst.) Pic.Serm.; Drynaria scandens (G.Forst.) Fée; Microsorum scandens (G. Forst.) Tindale

Family

Polypodiaceae

Authority

Dendroconche scandens (G.Forst.) Testo, Sundue et A.R.Field

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Ferns

NVS code

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.

MICSCN

Chromosome number

2n = 74

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: North, South and Chatham Islands - widespread from North Cape to Franz Josef (Westland). Also Australia (Eastern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria), also Lord Howe Island.

Habitat

Coastal to lowland, in forest. Dendroconche scandens is a common creeping fern covering rock piles, tree and tree fern trunks and bare ground. Unlike the superficially similar Zealandia pustulata, Dendroconche scandens is much less drought tolerant and so prefers less open, shaded and damper situations.

Features

Epiphytic or rupestral scrambling or climbing fern. Rhizomes long-creeping, 2-4 mm diameter, rather slender, flexuose (wiry), densely invested in persistent scales. Scales 2.0-8.0 × 1.0-2.2 mm, dark brown to purple-brown, ovate to narrowly ovate, squarrose, acuminate, minutely dentate near base. Fronds 75-580 × 10-30 mm (simple fronds 45-39 × 6-31 mm), dull green. Stipes 6-160 mm long, slender, pale, glossy, sparsely scaly. Lamina membranous, deeply pinnatifid or simple, strongly, pleasantly scented when fresh or recently dried. Pinnae in 1-20 pairs, 8-100 × 2.5-18 mm, falcate, strongly ascending, tapering toward apices, base adnate, tapering into stipe; margins often undulose; veins reticulate, usually forming only 1 series of areoles between costa (midrib in simple fronds) and lobe margin, glabrous part from a few scattered scales on midrib and costae. Sori in 1 row close to margin on each side of costa of laminal lobe or midrib in simple fronds, rounded or sometimes elongated or oval, impressed into abaxial lamina, forming low protuberances on the adaxial lamina surface. Spores orange-brown.

Similar taxa

Easily distinguished from the two other New Zealand Microsoroideae polypodiaceous ferns in the genus Zealandia by the narrow, long-creeping, dorsiventrally flattened rhizomes which are rarely pruinose, have laterally inserted climbing roots, and by the sori which are not deeply impressed in the lamina. The rhizome scales of Dendroconche scandens are also erect, membranous, coloured dark brown to purple-brown, and the fronds are dull green, narrower, and usually bear more pinnae. When crushed the fronds of Dendroconche scandens are pleasantly aromatic.

Flowering

Not applicable - spore producing

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Not applicable - spore producing

Propagation technique

Easily grown from rooted pieces of rhizome. Excellent in a hanging basket, large pot, or trained to grow over rocks, and logs but requires a shaded site and needs frequent watering. Once established it rarely requires much attention and has the advantage of being mostly disease and pest free.

Etymology

scandens: Climbing; from the Latin scandere; groth habit

Ethnobotany

The scented fronds of Dendroconche scandens known as “mokimoki” were much used by Maori to mask unpleasant odours.

Taxonomic Notes

The treatment of Testo et al. (2019) in which the New Zealand ferns previously treated by New Zealand authors as Microsorum (see Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth 2000) are segregated into two genera, Dendroconche and Zealandia is followed here.

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (13 January 2012). Description adapted from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000) and Bostock & Spokes (1998).

References and further reading

Bostock, P.D.; Spokes, T.M. 1998: Polypodiaceae. Pp. 468-495. Flora of Australia 48. Australian Biological Resources Study, CSIRO Canberra

Brownsey, P.J.; Smith-Dodsworth, J.C. 2000: New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. Auckland, David Bateman

Testo, W.L.; Field, A.R.; Sessa, E.B.; Sundue, M. 2019: Phylogenetic and morphological analyses support the resurrection of Dendroconche and the recognition of two new genera in Polypodiaceae Subfamily Microsoroideae. Systematic Botany 44(4): 1-16. DOI 10.1600/036364419X15650157948607

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Dendroconche scandens Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/dendroconche-scandens/ (Date website was queried)

▲ Back to top
  • Home
  • Flora
  • Threats
  • Ecosystems
  • Publications
  • Conservation
  • NZPCN
  • Help
  • Contact us

© 2023 New Zealand Plant Conservation Network • Website by RS

Coastlands Plant Nursery Wildlands

Website sponsor

  • Home
  • Flora
    • Flora species
    • Vascular
      • Ferns
        • King fern
        • True ferns
        • Adder's tongue ferns
        • Fork ferns and whisk ferns
        • Horsetails
      • Conifers
        • Celery pines
        • Kauri
        • Podocarps
          • Podocarpus
          • Dacrydium
          • Prumnopitys
          • Dacrycarpus
          • Halocarpus
          • Lepidothamnus
          • Manoao
        • Cypress
      • Flowering plants
        • Parasites
          • Leafy mistletoes
          • Pygmy mistletoes
            • Korthalsella flowers
            • Korthalsella hosts
            • Dispersal of Korthalsella
            • Associates of Korthalsella
          • Root parasites
          • Saprophytes
        • Epiphytes
          • NZ
            • Typical
            • Occasional
            • Hemi-epiphytes
            • Ephemeral
            • NZ list
        • Monocots
          • Orchids
            • Structure
          • Grasses
        • Dicots
          • Hebes
          • Kowhai
          • Coprosma
          • Beech
          • Rata
        • Carnivorous
        • Deciduous plants
        • Aquatic plants
      • Poisonous natives
      • Threatened plant lists
      • What's a vascular plant?
      • Club mosses
    • Non Vascular
      • Bryophytes
        • Liverworts
        • Mosses
        • Hornworts
      • Algae
        • Seaweeds
      • Lichens
    • Plant identification
      • Written descriptions
      • Experts
      • Plant keys
        • Key to parasitic plant genera
      • Collecting plants
        • Should I collect
        • Choosing a specimen
        • Field notes
        • Fresh plant material
        • Pressing and drying
        • Mounting specimens
        • Labelling specimens
    • Fungi
    • Make your own book
    • Quiz
  • Threats
    • Exotic Plants (Weeds)
      • Unwanted organisms
      • DOC weeds
      • Plant me instead
      • Pest Plant Accord
    • Pest Animals
      • Mammals
        • Mustelids
        • Rodents
        • Ungulates
        • Possums
      • Fish
      • Insects
    • Other threats
      • Natural events
        • Insects
      • Human induced
        • Habitat loss
        • Collection
        • Climate change
  • Ecosystems
    • Plant communities
      • Dunes
        • Volcanic
        • Coastal
          • Threats
          • Common species
          • Research on dunes
          • Pingao research
          • What you can do
      • Wetlands
        • Estuaries
          • Common estuarine species
          • Research on estuaries
        • Ephemeral
        • Restiad peat bogs
      • Forests
        • Kauri-podocarp-broadleaved
        • Podocarp broadleaved
        • Beech
      • Scrub/shrublands
        • Geothermal
          • Distribution of geothermal vegetation
          • Geothermal plants
          • Geothermal vegetation types
          • Threats to geothermal vegetation
        • Frost flat/hollow
        • Manuka fens
        • Gumlands
      • Grasslands
        • Tussock grasslands
      • Bare ground
        • Braided rivers
        • Alpine
        • Cliff
        • Scree and boulderfields
        • Shingle beaches
      • Herbfields
        • Saltpan
    • Ecosystem services
    • Novel ecosystems
  • Publications
    • Documents
    • Newsletter
    • Plant lists
      • Plant lists by region
      • Search plant lists
      • National plant lists
      • How to prepare a plant list
    • Botanical Society journals
    • NZPCN publications
  • Conservation
    • Seedbank
      • Project 1 - Pohutukawa, Rata and Myrtaceae
      • Project 2 - Alpine flora and the Forget-Me-Nots
      • Project 3 - Kowhai and its relatives
      • Project 4 - Podocarps and trees of the forest
    • Training
      • Module 1: Plant life
      • Module 2: Covenants
      • Module 3: Propagation
      • Module 4: Wetlands
      • Pilot course 2006
    • Restoration
      • Gardening
        • Being weed wise
        • Garden plants
          • Trees and shrubs
          • Broad-leaved herbs
          • Grass-like herbs
          • Climbers
          • Ferns
        • Attracting wildlife
        • Planting for lizards
          • Rules
      • Species recovery
        • Plant translocations
      • Ecological restoration
        • Case studies
          • Tavora Reserve
          • Waiwhakareke
      • Revegetation
      • Eco-sourcing
      • Find a restoration group
    • Monitoring
      • Number count
        • Number count method
        • Pros and cons of number counts
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Presence/absence surveys
        • Presence/absence survey methods
        • Pros and cons of presence/absence surveys
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Mapping spatial extent
        • Spatial extent mapping methods
        • Pros and cons of spatial extent mapping
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Photo points
        • Photo point guidelines
    • Habitat protection
      • Legal protection
        • Nga Whenua Rahui
        • QEII covenants
        • DOC Covenants
      • Animal pest control
      • Weed control
      • Fencing
    • Funding
    • Botanic gardens
  • NZPCN
    • News
    • Trilepidea newsletter
    • Events
      • Conference 2022
        • Conference programme summary
        • 2022 conference workshops
        • 2022 conference field trips
        • Code of conduct
        • COVID-19 information
        • 2022 conference sponsors
        • Abstract and poster submission
        • 2022 Conference venue and accommodation
        • Conference Workshop: Restoration Pathways
        • 2022 conference postponement
      • Conference 2019
      • Conference 2017
      • Conference 2015
        • Speakers
        • Workshops
        • Field trips
        • Charity auction
      • Conference 2013
        • Speakers
        • Timetable
      • 2023 Restoration Pathways Workshop
    • David Given Scholarship
      • David Given Scholarship Recipients
    • Members
    • Council members
      • NZPCN council member profiles
      • Council 2013
      • Council 2012
      • Council 2011
      • Council 2010
      • Council 2009
      • Council 2008
      • Council 2007
      • Council 2006
      • Council 2005
      • Council 2004
      • Council 2003
    • Awards
      • NZPCN Awards
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
        • 2012
        • 2011
        • 2010
        • 2009
        • 2008
        • 2007
        • 2006
        • 2005
        • 2022
    • Shop
    • Donate
    • Favourite Plant
    • Why join NZPCN?
    • Join
  • Help
    • FAQ
      • Joining the Network
      • The Network
      • Network website
      • New Zealand plants
      • The law
      • Your discoveries
    • Query
    • Glossary
  • Contact us