Ceratopteris thalictroides
Encyclopedia
The species Ceratopteris thalictroides is a fern
species
belonging to the genus Ceratopteris
, one of only two genera
of the Ceratopteridaceae
family. The species represents a special living form of ferns, and is thus of great botanical interest. The leaf and stem can also be used medically.
Recent chromosome counts have shown that the north type and the third type both have chromosome counts of 2n=156, while the south type has a count of 2n=154, making it definitely a separate species.
, and raw as a salad in Micronesia
. However, the plant is believed to contain carcinogen
ic chemicals.
In the Sepik
region of New Guinea fronds are used as a personal decoration.
Ceratopteris thalictroides can benefit (like all aquatic plants) from the addition of CO2. The plant's reproductive technique is similar to other ferns: small adventitious plantlets are grown on the mother plant and are then released when ready.
It can provide useful shade to shyer fish and small fry. The dense roots are said to take nutrients out of the water helping to prevent the growth of algae.
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
belonging to the genus Ceratopteris
Ceratopteris
Ceratopteris is the only genus among homosporous ferns that is exclusively aquatic. It is pan-tropical.-Description:Erect aquatic or subaquatic ferns of moderate size...
, one of only two genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of the Ceratopteridaceae
Ceratopteridaceae
Ceratopteridaceae is the family name for the clade that is now known to include the two genera Ceratopteris and Acrostichum.Although Ceratopteris was long isolated under its own family, due to adaptations for a dedicated aquatic existence, recent genetic study has determined that these two genera...
family. The species represents a special living form of ferns, and is thus of great botanical interest. The leaf and stem can also be used medically.
Common Names
It is commonly known as water sprite, Indian fern, water fern, Oriental waterfern, and water hornfern. In the Philippines it is called pakung-sungay (literally 'antler fern' or 'horn fern').Distribution
Pan-tropical. Widespread. There are three general types, known as the north type, the south type, and the third type.Description
Plants usually rooted in mud, very variable in size and appearance, scales on rhizome peltate, thin , translucent, pale brown, (under a lens clear with dark cell walls) stipes 3 – 15 mm diameter in mature plants, spongy and air filled, sterile fronds pale green, thin, flaccid and spreading, 4 – 60 cm long, including a stipe c. half this length, fertile fronds pale green, to brown when over mature, firm, held erect, 15 – 100 cm or more long, including stipe to 40 cm long, proliferous or dormant buds with overlapping dark scales sometimes present in the axils of fertile pinnae (twice seen), sterile axes obviously winged, pinnae basically broad-ovate or deltoid with a few blunt lobes, sometimes more deeply incised, the segments 2 - 15 x 10 – 30 mm, fertile segments linear, 1 - 2 x 10 – 80 mm.Recent chromosome counts have shown that the north type and the third type both have chromosome counts of 2n=156, while the south type has a count of 2n=154, making it definitely a separate species.
Ecology
Swampy areas, swamp forests, sago (Metroxylon) swamps, marshes, natural and man-made ponds, mostly in stagnant water bodies or in still pockets along slow flowing rivers, full sun to moderate shade, from sea level to 1300 m, but mostly less than 500 m altitude. Sometimes massed on or around logs or other floating vegetation, once recorded in a fresh-water mangrove (Sonneratia) growing among the finger-like pneumatophores. In some areas Ceratopteris exhibits a degree of seasonality, reaching maturity and shedding spores during the dry season; plants have lost nearly all sterile fronds by this stage. The species has been reported to functionally be an annual, repopulating from spore the next season, but it is clearly of indefinite lifespan in cultivation.Culinary
Fronds are cooked and eaten as a vegetable in Madagascar and New GuineaNew Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, and raw as a salad in Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
. However, the plant is believed to contain carcinogen
Carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes...
ic chemicals.
Other
Ceratopteris thalictroides is widely used as an aquarium plant, and is prized for its versatility, being used both as a floating plant and a plant that can be rooted in the substrate.In the Sepik
Sepik
Sepik may refer to places in Papua New Guinea:*Sepik River*East Sepik - a province*Sandaun - a province formerly known as West Sepik*Sepik region - consisting of East Sepik and Sandaun provincesIn languages it may refer to:...
region of New Guinea fronds are used as a personal decoration.
Cultivation
It grows best in soil with a pH reading of 5-9 and in very high amounts of light. It usually grows quickly.Ceratopteris thalictroides can benefit (like all aquatic plants) from the addition of CO2. The plant's reproductive technique is similar to other ferns: small adventitious plantlets are grown on the mother plant and are then released when ready.
It can provide useful shade to shyer fish and small fry. The dense roots are said to take nutrients out of the water helping to prevent the growth of algae.