Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaudich.) Ching

Mariana Maiden Fern; False Maiden Fern

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Mariana Maiden Fern is an introduced deciduous herbaceous perennial in the Marsh Fern family (Thelypteridaceae). It is native to tropical and subtropical areas of Asia and Africa. In Alabama it can be found throughout the state. Mariana Maiden Fern occurs on creek banks, in swamps, in wet roadside ditches, in low woods, and in other wet, disturbed habitats. It is a perennial from a short, thick rhizome. Fronds are triangular in outline--broadest at the base and longer than wide. The fronds are 2--3-pinnate. The lower surface of the leaf has unbranched hairs along the costae and glandular hairs on the rachis, costae, and blade tissue. Mariana Maiden Fern reproduces by forming spores. The spores are located in sporangia grouped in round sori (clusters of sporangia) on the lower surfaces of the leaf. The sori are partially covered by a flap of tissue called the indusium. Mariana Maiden Fern is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental but tends to be weedy and spreads rapidly. It is listed as an invasive species by the Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The first collection of this species in the United States was from 1904 in Seminole County, Florida. It was fist collected in Alabama by L. C. Crawford in Conecuh County in 1948.—A. Diamond

**

Not Native OBL (NWPL)

**