Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) Ching

Locations ofMacrothelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) Ching in Virginia

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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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