Plant Listings

Vittaria lineata (L.) Sm.

Common Names: Shoe String Fern, Grass Fern

Family: Pteridaceae

Habit: Vittaria lineata grows from short clumping, branching, scaly rhizomes. The scales are dark, iridescent and linear to filiform. The fronds are to 1 m in length and 4 mm in width, with an entire margin and acute leaf apex. The sporangium are embedded in two linear grooved sori and the spores are reniform.

Habitat: Vittaria lineata grows as an epiphyte primarily on Sabal palmetto trunks.

Distribution: Vittaria lineata occurs in the central and northern island groupings of the Lucayan Archipelago as well as the southern United States, Mexico south to central South America, and the entire Caribbean region.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Vittaria lineata is not known to be used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.