Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) Ching
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Detail
- Family
- Thelypteridaceae
- Botanical Name
- Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) Ching
- Common Name
- Swordfern
- Synonym(s)
- Flora of Virginia Name/Status
- in Taxa Not Treated: Waifs
- Comments
- Found by Dr. Phil Shelton (UVA at Wise) near Dot, Lee County, some years ago; still present in 2004 though only a few small plants were seen. In 2024, Maeve Coker found a second population in the northern Coastal Plain (Essex County). The species is native to the Asian and African tropics. According to the Flora of the Southeastern U.S., it is spreading and "increasingly invasive" in the southeast, especially in the Gulf coastal states.
- Habitat
- The Lee County population occurs in a gentle, young, deciduous slope forest, somewhat weedy from canopy breakup due to ice storms. The Essex County population grows in a disturbed, regenerating hardwood forest.
- Native Status
- Introduced
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