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
    • Members
    • Council members
    • Awards
    • Shop
    • Donate
    • Favourite Plant
    • Why join NZPCN?
    • Join
  • Help
    • FAQ
    • Query
    • Glossary
  • Contact us
  • Settings

Search flora

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Flora
  3. Flora species
  4. Sticherus flabellatus var. flabellatus

Sticherus flabellatus var. flabellatus

Sticherus flabellatus.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Kerikeri River. Mar 2007.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>.
Kerikeri River. Mar 2007.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>.
Sori.<br>Photographer: John E. Braggins, Licence: All rights reserved.
Kerikeri.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, 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>
Sori.<br>Photographer: John E. Braggins, Date taken: 01/03/1973, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Sticherus flabellatus var. flabellatus in farmland scrub at Coopers Beach.<br>Photographer: Bill Campbell, Date taken: 09/11/2007, 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>
Sticherus flabellatus var. flabellatus.<br>Photographer: Kevin Matthews, 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>
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
iNaturalist NZ View observations Te Papa View specimens Donate Support NZPCN

Common name

Umbrella fern

Synonyms

Gleichenia flabellata R. Br.

Family

Gleicheniaceae

Authority

Sticherus flabellatus (R.Br.) H.St. John var. flabellatus

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Ferns

Chromosome number

2n = 68

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 | Qualifiers: SO

2004 | Sparse

Distribution

Indigenous. In New Zealand known from scattered locations from North Cape south to the Karangahake Gorge. Probably most common on Great Barrier Island.

There has been some confusion over the distribution of Sticherus flabellatus in New Zealand. Perrie (2013) stated: “Populations of Sticherus tener and Sticherus urceolatus in the northern South Island had previously been mistakenly attributed to Sticherus flabellatus. We now believe that Sticherus flabellatus does not occur in the South Island, but it is common in the northern North Island.”

Common in Australia.

Habitat

Coastal to lowland. In the North Island usually associated with kauri (Agathis australis) forest, and/or regenerating forest and scrub nearby established kauri forest remnants. It also grows along steep sided streams and on rocks within gorges.

Features

Colonial yellow-green to green umbrella fern. Fronds erect 1–1.4 m tall, rather glossy above, dull below. Stipes 0.2–0.6 m long, pale brown, glabrous, rather wiry. Rachises in 1(–2) tiers, each forking 2–3 times, 100–300 mm from the stipe to the tip of the longest branch, erect and spreading, flabellate, glabrous or slightly scaly. Pinnae linear up to 40 x 3 mm, apex acute, glossy yellow-green to green above paler beneath. Sori in one row either side of the midrib but away for the pinna margins, 4–5 sporangia in each, without indusia. Description adapted from Chinnock & Bell (1998).

According to Brownsey et al. (2013), “Sticherus flabellatus has fronds that are held partially upright in the form of a fan, rather than drooping like an umbrella. There is a very narrow angle (mean 30°) between paired proximal costae. The ultimate leaflet is much longer than the proximal costa (mean ratio 15.5 : 1). The proximal costa usually lacks leafy ultimate segments. The ultimate leaflet is narrowly elliptic in outline with the segments arising at 50-60° to the costa. The segments of the ultimate leaflet are longest near the middle, 20-40 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, minutely serrate along the margins, and green on the underside. There are occasional, very narrow, fimbriate, brown scales along the costae, and hair-like scales on the undersurfaces. Spores measure 32-35 mm by 17-19 mm (four samples from four populations).”

Similar taxa

Rather distinctive, the broad, fan-shaped, yellow-green to green concolorous fronds serve to distinguish it from the only other common Sticherus in New Zealand, S. cunninghamii (Hook.f.) Ching, which has much more divided fronds, with shorter pinnules dark green above and whitish beneath. Its pinnae are also markedly more scaly. Distinction from the little known (in New Zealand) S. tener (R.Br.) Ching is less clear, but this species has its pinnae arising at right angles to the rachis branches.

Flowering

Not applicable - spore producing

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Not applicable - spore producing

Propagation technique

Can be grown from rooted pieces and fresh spores. However, spores can be very tricky to raise and plants resent root disturbance. Nevertheless, once established this species is one of the few members of the New Zealand Gleicheniaceae that is easily maintained in cultivation.

Threats

Not actively threatened. However, with the exception of Great Barrier Island it is never common anywhere, and some populations are very small and vulnerable to land clearance and mining.

Etymology

sticherus: In rows; from the greek sticheres; arrangement of the spore clusters

flabellatus: Fan shaped; from the Latin flabellum; shape of the leaves

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (January 2005). Description adapted from Chinnock & Bell (1998). Updated by Melissa Hutchison (19 November 2022), with reference to Brownsey et al. (2013).

References and further reading

Brownsey P.J., Ewans R., Rance B., Walls S. and Perrie L.R. 2013: A review of the fern genus Sticherus (Gleicheniaceae) in New Zealand with confirmation of two new species records. New Zealand Journal of Botany 51(2): 104-115. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2013.773917DOI: 10.1080/0028825X.2013.773917

Chinnock, R.J.; Bell, G.H. 1998: Gleicheniaceae. Flora of Australia 48: 148-162.

Perrie L. 2013: Would you mine a rare population? Blog on the Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa website. https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2013/04/21/would-you-mine-a-rare-population/

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

© 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
    • 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
      • David Given Scholarship
        • David Given Scholarship Recipients
    • 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
  • Settings