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Pteris multifida
Also called Chinese Brake, Spider Fern, Spider Brake Fern
Spider brake is a small, shade-loving fern native to East Asia that often grows in cracks of old walls. Keep it in shade or part shade with consistently moist, well-drained soil or a crevice-like mix.
Pteris multifida, the spider brake, is a species of fern in the family Pteridaceae. It is native to central and southern China, Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, Taiwan, and Vietnam. A shade-loving lithophyte with fronds reaching at most 60 cm (24 in), it is typically found growing on old walls, and is a rare example of a fern synanthrope. Consequently it has been introduced to many locales around the world, including many of the United States, some of the Caribbean islands, Bolivia, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, central Europe, Italy, Romania, Uganda, the Indian Subcontinent, Thailand, and the Philippines, and is known by many local common names, including Chinese brake, spider fern, Huguenot fern, ribbon fern, and saw-leaved bracken.
Cretan brake · Slender brake · Cretan Brake · Ladder brake · Brake fern
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pteris multifida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
