About Sticherus flabellatus (R.Br.) H.St.John
Sticherus flabellatus, commonly known as the shiny fan fern or umbrella fern, is a small fern species. It occurs in eastern Australia and New Zealand, ranging north from the north-western region of the South Island. This is a common, attractive plant with shiny dark foliage, and the smallest sections of its fronds have slightly toothed edges. It often grows in large colonies in appropriately moist gullies and alongside creeks. Two varieties of the species are currently recognized; they differ from one another in the size of their sporangia and the size of their ultimate frond segments. The variety found in New South Wales is Sticherus flabellatus var. flabellatus. In 1810, this species was published under the name Gleichenia flabellata in Robert Brown’s work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.
