Christella dentata (Forssk.) Brownsey & Jermy

Yañez, A., Marquez, G. J., Berrueta, P. C. & García, R. A., 2021, An urban fern refugium: Municipal Ecological Reserve of Avellaneda (Eco Área) (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Blumea 66 (3), pp. 227-235 : 233

Christella dentata (Forssk.) Brownsey & Jermy

Origin — Exotic, naturalized. It has a palaeotropical origin, naturally distributed in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Later it was introduced and naturalized in the Americas, where it is widely distributed from the US to southern South America. In Argentina, it is widely cited for Tucumán, and the northeast and central provinces of the country.

Habitat & Ecology — Terrestrial, grows very frequently in exposed habitats and is a colonizing species in disturbed areas such as forest clearings, roadsides or lands where vegetation was removed. It is occasionally epiphyte or epipetric and grows on walls.

Location within the reserve — Edge of roads and under tourist walkways.

Observations — Previous work highlights that this species can cause the displacement of populations of native species ( Tejero-Díez & Torres-Díaz 2012).

Illustration and morphological description reference — Ponce (2016).

Studied specimens. ARGENTINA, Buenos Aires, Mun.Avellaneda, Reserva Ecológica Municipal de Avellaneda (Eco Área), Yañez et al. 485 (BA, LP), 18-IX-2018 ; Yañez et al. 488, Yañez et al. 499 (BA, LP), 31-V-2019 .