Scientific Name:
Blechnum gibbum
'Silver Lady'
Pronunciation:
BLEK-num GIB-bum
Common Name:
Silver Lady fern, dwarf tree fern
Family Name:
Blechnaceae
Plant Type:
Fern, Indoor foliage plant
Key ID Features:
Fronds once pinnate and form a symmetrical rosette, up to 1.2m long x 20cm wide, eventually produced on a scaly, black trunk; pinnae linear and sessile; separate similar looking spore bearing fronds except with narrower pinnae that form masses of sporangia in one long sori on each side of the costa ("midrib").
Habit:
Upright
Form:
Vase
Texture:
Medium - coarse
Mature Height:
0.7 - 1.3m
Mature Spread:
0.6 - 1.0m
Origin:
Garden origin (New Caledonia)
Hardiness Rating:
Zone 10: (-1 to 4 °C)
Exposure:
Full sun only if soil kept moist, Part sun/part shade, Filtered shade
Soil/Growing Medium:
Acidic, Well-drained
Landscape Uses:
Indoor plant
Additional Info:
Leaf Morphology:
Form:
Compound, Fern-like
Arrangement:
Basal
Texture/Venation:
Leathery
Surfaces:
Glabrous
Compound Leaf:
Bipinnate
Colour in Fall:
Green
Shapes:
Lanceolate
Apices:
Acute
Bases:
Truncate
Margins:
Entire
Additional Info:
Fronds to 1m long, once pinnate. Pinnae narrower on fertile fronds.
Inflorescence Type:
Flower Morphology:
Colour (petals):
No flowers
Flower Time at Peak:
Fruit Type:
Sporangium (spores)
Fruit Colour:
Brown
Fruiting Time:
Apr, May
Bark Morphology:
Stringy, Single stem trunk
Bark or Stem Colour:
Black
Additional Info:
no above ground stem
Maintenance:
Low
Other:
Perfers high humidity
Pest Susceptibility:
Aphids or adelgids, Mealybugs, Mites, Scale insects
