Tectaria incisa
Common Name(s): incised halberd fern
Non-Native to Florida
Origin: Mexico, Central and South America, West Indies1
Introduction to Florida: 1929 (ornamental)2
This species appears on the following legally prohibited plant lists
UF-IFAS Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas
CATEGORY I on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s (FLEPPC) 2017 List of Invasive Plant Species
Download a page (PDF) from Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition1
Tectaria incisa is occasionally found growing in swamps and wet hammocks, as well as terrestrial or on limestone outcrops in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward Counties. It is apparently a recent introduction from Tropical America (Wunderlin, 2003). This invasive fern can be mistaken for the rare Florida native, broad halberd fern.
View the herbarium specimen image from the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.
Citations
1. Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition, by K.A. Langeland, H.M. Cherry, et al. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 257. 2008.
2. From Strangers in Paradise, Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida, Chapter 2: Florida’s Invasion by Nonindigenous Plants: History, Screening, and Regulation, by D.R. Gordon and K.P. Thomas, pp. 21-37. Island Press, Washington, DC, 1997.