Scientific Name: Blechnum cartilagineum

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  • Pronunciation:
    BLECK-num car-till-adge-ee-NAY-um
  • Common Name:
    Gristle Fern
  • Derivation:
    Blechnum: Gr. blokhon - ancient name for a fern cartilagineum: L. cartilago - cartilage.
  • Type:
    Fern
  • Family:
    BLECKNACEAE
  • Flowers:
    None
  • Fruit:
    Ferns do not have flowers or fruit but produce spores on the backs of their leaves throughout the year.
  • Vegetation Type:
    Araucarian notophyll ecotonal rainforest Understorey in well lighted areas of rainforest and ecotonal forests.
  • Species List:
    Kennilworth Fig Tree Walk, Wooroi Day Use Area Tracks, NNP service road, (Cooroibah 26.4.09, BSDoonan, Cooloothin Corner, Fraser Island, Batianoff 87, Upper Yandina Creek, NNP Palm Grove, Kin Kin Scrub, Dandaloo, Stratford Park, Heritage Park,
Identification Notes

Leaf: Lamina with broadly attached pinnae or lobes almost throughout. ||Pink young fronds age to pale green. ||Plants die back in cooler dry seasons.||

Landscaping Notes

Hardy and attractive in cultivation. Shade.||Sometimes claimed to be the hardiest fern in cultivation, Gristle Fern copes with dry conditions and neglect. It is one of the few ferns that can establish under eucalypts or in Blady Grass. The black scaly rhizome can be divided or new plants grown from spores. (Nicholson)||Feature foliage||Successfully propagated by Barung Landcare||