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Schizaea dichotoma, the branched comb fern, is a small, upright fern of the Schizaeaceae family, usually found in open forest or heath on sandy soils. It is unusual because it is thought to be a saprophyte, relying on a fungal partner rather than photosynthesis alone.
Schizaea dichotoma, the branched comb fern, in the family Schizaeaceae, is a small plant usually found in open forest or heath, often on sandy soils. The habit is mostly upright, with up to 20 segments, twice or more times branched, or dichotomous. It is native to southern and southeast Asia from India eastwards, and to Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Malesia and islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is a low-growing plant, 20 to 40 cm tall. The specific epithet dichotoma is derived from Greek, meaning "twice cut", referring to the branched nature of the fronds. This plant first appeared in scientific literature in the year 1753 as Acrostichum dichotomum, published in the Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus. Unusual for a fern, it is said to be a saprophyte facilitated by a fungal symbiote.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Schizaea dichotoma 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.
