Adiantum hispidulum, commonly known as Rough Maidenhair Fern or five-fingered jack, is a small fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

 in the family Adiantaceae

Adiantaceae

Adiantaceae is a family of ferns in the order Pteridales. This includes the family formerly known as the "Vittariaceae." Recent genetic analyses based on chloroplast genes demonstrate that the vittarioid ferns cladistically nest within the genus Adiantum, making that genus...

 of widespread distribution. It is found in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

, Malesia

Malesia

Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and other Pacific Islands. Its fronds rise in clumps from rhizomes among rocks or in the soil in sheltered areas.

Taxonomy

Adiantum hispidulum was first described by Swedish botanist Olof Swartz

Olof Swartz

Olof Peter Swartz was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes...

 in 1802. Its species name is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 hispis "hair" and means "minutely hairy". Five Fingered Jack is an alternate vernacular name.

Description

Adiantum hispidulum grows in tufts or clumps among rocks or from the ground, its fronds arising from the short dark clumped rhizomes. The dark stipe measures up to 45 cm (18 in) in length. The fronds are divided into long and short narrow triangular or elliptic pinnae, each of which is divided again into smaller roughly rectangular, diamond-, or fan-shaped pinnules. Each pinnule may have 1 to 20 sori along its margins underneath. Young growth may have a pinkish tinge before it matures into the dark green foliage.

Distribution and habitat

The species ranges from tropical eastern Africa, including South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Madagascar and the Comoros, Mauritius, to Asia through Malesia to all states of Australia, as well as New Zealand and Pacific islands. A common plant, Adiantum hispidulum is often seen growing in moist areas. In Australia it is found near rocks, in rainforest or open forest.

Cultivation

Adiantum hispidulum is grown as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

that adapts readily to cultivation, although may be slow growing. It is more tolerant of sun and drying out than other fern species.