Pteris ensiformis (slender brake, "Hokoshida")

Japanese name: ホコシダ （鉾羊歯）
Scientific name: Pteris ensiformis

[Overview]
An evergreen fern found in sunny places in the mountains and on stone walls near houses.
It has a short, creeping rhizome.
The rhizome bears dark brown, lanceolate scales.
The leaves are of two kinds: vegetative leaves and spore-bearing leaves.
The vegetative leaves are 2-pinnate with 2–5 pairs of lateral pinnae; the pinnae are deeply pinnately divided, the pinnules are elliptic to lanceolate, and the petiole is 6–10 cm long.
The spore-bearing leaves are 2-pinnate with 3–5 pairs of lateral pinnae; the terminal pinna is long, the pinnules are 0.2–0.6 cm wide, and the petiole is 15–25 cm long.
The lower pinnae of the spore-bearing leaves have short stalks.
The sori cover the whole pinna except near the base and the tip of the margin, and the parts without sori have fine serrations.
Even pinnae without sori never exceed 1 cm in width.

[Uses]
In China it is used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
It can overwinter outdoors in areas without frost, but potted plants are safer brought indoors to a sunny place in winter.
From autumn to spring it prefers a sunny, fertile, well-drained site, and in summer a place protected from direct sunlight.
Take care with watering, as the leaves wither if the plant dries out; for potted plants, water thoroughly from spring to autumn when the soil surface begins to dry, and in winter water after the soil surface has dried.
For plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
In dry periods, mist the leaves with a sprayer.
Apply slow-release fertilizer placed on the soil once every 2 months from spring to autumn.
Spider mites can occur.

[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the leaf shape being likened to a hoko (a spear).

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