Ozothamnus leptophyllus < Species index > Parsonsia heterophylla
This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, # 8, September 2024
September in the hills with Michele Dickson, Chris Horne
Paesia scaberula, mātā, mātātā, ring fern, hard fern, scented fern, pig fern, lace fern
Photo: Jeremy Rolfe
Photo: Jeremy Rolfe
For general comments about ferns, see Asplenium oblongifolium, October 2015 Tramper p.8. For a description of the life cycle of ferns see Asplenium bulbiferum, December 2015 Tramper p.11. Paesia scaberula is one of several similar-looking ferns within the large fern family Dryopteridaceae, but the only species in the genus Paesia in New Zealand.
Origin of the botanical name
Paesia honours the Portuguese Duke Pernando Dias Paes Leme, Commander in South America in the 17th century; scaberula is derived from a diminutive of the Latin word ‘scaber’, meaning rough.
Distribution and habitat
Mātā is endemic to New Zealand. It is found on Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Te Ika a Māui / North Island, Te Waipounamu / South Island, Rakiura / Stewart Island and Rekohu / Chatham Island. It is common in open places, forming colonies on disturbed ground – looking like rings on the sides of roads and tracks, reverting farmland and hillsides where it can be considered a pest.
Growth habit
Mātā is a terrestrial fern with creeping, wiry, chestnut-brown, hairy, long-creeping rhizomes. The stipe / frond stalk below the fronds is also long and brown, 5-40 cm long, rough to feel but becoming smooth higher up. The rhachis / stalk of the frond is distinctly zig-zag over some or all of its length. Fronds are 10-80 cm long and 7-35 cm wide, yellow-green, fragrant and at first sticky, caused by short glandular hairs on the undersides. Fronds divide into pinnae / segments three times, a feature described as tripinnate. In late autumn fronds may turn reddish-brown and die off, especially in frosty places.
Reproduction
When mature, continuous strips of sporangia appear around the margins of the ultimate pinnae / frond segments, but not quite reaching the apex or base. The sporangia are protected on one side by the membranous in-rolled pinna margin and on the other by a membranous, barely visible indusium / covering. The spores are spread by the wind.
Uses of mātā.
Bruised fronds can be applied to ulcers.
Where to find mātā?
You can see mātā in most of Wellington’s regional parks, sunny reverting hillsides, bush edges and some roadsides but usually not in very wet places. It also occurs in open places in the Tararua, Remutaka and Aorangi ranges.
In The Hills 2024-08 < Index chronological > In The Hills 2024-10