Scientific Name: Lastreopsis acuminata

Common Name: shiny shieldfern

Family Classification (Clade): Pteridophytes

Family: Dryopteridaceae

Form Description: Fern with rhizome, tufted with brown scales; fronds, up to 90cm long, arching on stipes as long as frond dark green, shiny, usually bipinnatifid.

Municipality
Break O’DayBurnieCentral CoastDerwent ValleyGlamorgan-Spring BayHobartHuon ValleyKentishKing IslandKingboroughLauncestonMeander ValleyTasmanWaratah-WynyardWest CoastWest Tamar
Plant Communities
RainforestWet Eucalypt Forest
Habitat Notes

Uncommon but locally abundant across northern Tasmania, scattered and coastal elsewhere. Grows typically in dark sheltered conditions beside running water; terrestrial or lithophytic; from sea level to 200m (rarely 400m).

Site Tolerance

Moist, Rocky, Shady

Soil Tolerance

Fertile, Well-drained

General Notes

Suits hanging baskets if watered regularly. Appears to have the greatest low-light tolerance for spore germination of all Tasmanian pteridophytes.

Propagation Calendar

  • Flowering Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Seed Collecting Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Sowing Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Cutting Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Propagation Method
Specialist Method

Seed Information

Seed Collection

Sori halfway between midvein and margin, indusium dark brown, kidney-shaped. Spores are blackish and shed fairly quickly. Brown sporangia remain on the fronds, giving false appearance of fertile material.