Pellaea rotundifolia explained

Pellaea rotundifolia, the button fern, is a species of fern endemic to New Zealand, where it grows in scrub and forests. It is also a popular garden plant (in zones 8 and 9) and house plant, tolerating low temperatures but not freezing.

Pellaea rotundifolia is a compact, evergreen fern that can have more than 30 pairs of round, dark-green, leathery pinnae on fronds up to in length.^[1] The Latin specific epithet rotundifolia means "round-leaved".^[2]

Cultivation

It needs acidic and well-drained soil; it does not appreciate the moist, humid conditions that most ferns require so does well with minimal watering.^[1]

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^{[3] [4]}

References

• Sp. fil. 2:136. 1858.
• G. Brownlie, "Cyto-Taxonomic Studies on New Zealand Pteridaceae", New Phytologist, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Jul., 1957), pp. 207–209.
• Gerald J. Gastony and David R. Rollo, "Phylogeny and Generic Circumscriptions of Cheilanthoid Ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae) Inferred from rbcL Nucleotide Sequences", American Fern Journal, Vol. 85, No. 4, Use of Molecular Data in Evolutionary Studies of Pteridophytes (Oct. - Dec., 1995), pp. 341–360.
• Nico Vermeulen, Encyclopedia of House Plants, Taylor & Francis, 1999, pages 22–23. .

Notes and References

1. Olsen, Sue. Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns. 2007.
2. Book: Harrison, Lorraine . RHS Latin for Gardeners . 2012 . Mitchell Beazley . United Kingdom . 978-1845337315 .
3. Web site: RHS Plantfinder - Pellaea rotundifolia . 18 April 2018.
4. Web site: AGM Plants - Ornamental . July 2017 . 75 . Royal Horticultural Society . 21 April 2018.