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Floristic Inventory of the Florida Keys Database Online

Pteris bahamensis (J. Agardh) Fée
Bahama ladder brake

Pteris bahamensis
Copyright by: Shirley Denton

Family: Pteridaceae

Group: Pteridophyte

Substrate: Terrestrial

Habit: Herb

Perennation: Perennial

Native Range: South Florida and the West Indies (Cuba, Bahamas).

NatureServe Global Status: Apparently Secure

State of Florida Status: Threatened

Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status: Rare

IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status: Imperiled

Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida

SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence: Present

SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status: Native

South Florida History and Distribution: This is rare in South Florida and is primarily know from the Miami Rock Ridge, the Florida Keys and the Big Cypress. It is frequent in remnant pine rockland fragments on the Miami Rock Ridge and in the lower Florida Keys. However, it is threatened from hybridization with the invasive exotic Pteris vitatta, yeilding Pteris x delchampsii. Using modern NatureServe criteria, we re-ranked this as Imperiled in South Florida in July, 2018.

SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status: Cultivated

Comments: Visit our Natives For Your Neighborhood website for more information and images.

Synonyms: Pycnodoria pinetorum.

FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence: Present

FLORIDA KEYS Native Status: Native

IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status: Rare

Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys

Florida Keys History and Distribution: First collected between 1838 and 1853 by John Loomis Blodgett on Big Pine Key. Reported in 1931 by John Kunkel Small for pinelands and rarely hammocks in the Florida Keys without specific locality data. Also reported for North Key Largo, near the relict pineland, by Karen Achor in 1977. We consider this native and extant in the lower Keys.

Other data on Pteris bahamensis available from :


Pteris bahamensis has been reported from the following 3 conservation areas in the FLORIDA KEYS :
Occurrence Native Status
Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park Reported
National Key Deer Refuge Present Native
Sugarloaf Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native




Pteris bahamensis has been reported for the following 4 habitats in THE FLORIDA KEYS :
Disturbed Upland
Pine Rockland
Rockland Hammock
Sinkhole


All Images:

Pteris bahamensis
Copyright by: Shirley Denton

Pteris bahamensis
Copyright by: Lindsay M. Boehner
cultivated plant in South Florida

Pteris bahamensis
Copyright by: Lindsay M. Boehner
cultivated plant in South Florida