Click on any image to open the slideshow
Tectaria heracleifolia (Willd.)Underw.
Broad Halberd Fern
Florida native
Threatened Florida species
Found in mesic hammocks, often on limestone and in shaded grottoes in southernmost Florida plus Citrus and Hernando Counties. The range also includes Texas and Puerto Rico.
This halberd fern has an erect or ascending scaly stem up to 2cm (~3/4 in.) in diameter. The fronds can be up to 60cm (~2 ft.) long. The pinnate-pinnatifid blade is a dark shiny green, with an overall deltate-ovate to pentagonal shape. Blade is 12-50cm (4-3/4 to 19-1/2 in.) long, 14-45cm (5-1/2 to 17-3/4 in.) wide with netted veins. The petioles are grooved, 15-45cm (6 to 17-3/4 in.) long and typically longer than the blade. Petioles are dark brown, scaly and minutely pubescent near the base, straw-colored to pale brown and without hairs higher up. One to three pairs of pinnae are below a lobed terminal pinna. The lower pinnae are often deeply lobed. All pinnae are usually coarsely toothed. The sori are spaced in single rows along both sides of the veins on the underside of the pinnae.
Tectaria heracleifolia is a member of the Dryopteridaceae - Wood Fern family.
Other species of the Tectaria genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Tectaria incisa - INCISED HALBERD FERN
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Apr 05, 2024
