About Hiya distans (Colenso ex Hook.) Brownsey & Perrie
Hiya distans, previously classified as Hypolepis distans, is commonly called the scrambling ground fern. It is a small fern that grows in soils with a thick humus layer or in swampy areas. It is primarily found in New Zealand, and occurs less frequently in Australia. In Australia, it is rarely recorded in north-west Tasmania and King Island. There is only one known population of this fern on the Australian mainland, located at Macquarie Pass in New South Wales. An introduced population of Hiya distans grows on remote Norfolk Island in the South Pacific Ocean. Morphologically, the scrambling ground fern has 20 to 40 pairs of primary pinnae, which grow opposite or subopposite on the stem at a 90-degree angle. Its specific epithet distans comes from Latin, where it means "widely spaced".
