Family: Davalliaceae

Status: popular garden plant for shady areas

Description:
A fish-bone type of fern, it forms dense clumps of erect fronds to 75 cm long. The fronds are compound, with numerous leaflets, longest near the middle of the frond and tapering in size at either end. The margins of each leaflet are finely toothed. The spores are carried in a row of dots halfway between the margins and the mid-vein on the underside of each leaflet.

Preferred habitat and impacts:
A native of Queensland and northern NSW, this fern is widely planted in gardens outside these areas. It can become naturalised in nearby moist situations, and potentially could choke out other ground vegetation.

Dispersal:
Permanently moist conditions are needed for young plants to be produced from spores, so spread by dumping of rhizomes (underground stems) is much more likely.

Look-alikes:
The native sickle fern (Pellaea falcata ) is widespread in the region. It occurs from shady gullies to quite dry slopes in forest. On dry sites it wilts and dies off in dry conditions, and recovers from the rhizome after rain. It is also a fish-bone type of fern, but can be distinguished by having the spores carried in a continuous band around the margins of the leaf segments, rather than a row of separate dots. When not carrying spores, the smooth margins and slightly glossy leaflet surface distinguish it from the dull green, toothed edged fronds of fishbone fern.

Another group of native fish-bone types of fern are the water ferns (Blechnum species) which have a more clumped habit, with several fronds arising from a single growing point, sometimes with a short trunk erect trunk. Prickly rasp fern (Doodia aspera) has the spreading habit from an underground rhizome similar to sickle fern and fishbone fern, but its fronds are quite short (less than 30cm) and are quite sandpapery to the touch. It can cover large areas on shady slopes.

Control:
Dig out or spray. Dispose of the remains carefully, since material left in contact with the ground may take root again.