Cretan brake
Pteris cretica L.
- light
- Part–shade
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 76 cm
- wide
- 46 cm
Pteridaceae
Also called Ribbon fern, Avery Fern
Formerly Litobrochia contracta, Pteris confertinervia, Pteris contracta, Pteris dangiana, and 19 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Rhizomatous geophyte or lithophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Canary Is. (Gran Canaria), Ethiopia to S. Africa, Madagascar, Réunion, St. Helena, Ascension, Socotra, Yemen, Medit. to Japan and Trop. AsiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Part shade to shade (under 6 h)Read from RHS, one source
- Height
- 76 cmRead from RHS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.5–1 m; Wikipedia 75–75 cm
- Spread
- 36 cm to 56 cmRead from RHS and Wikipedia, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS 0.1–0.5 m; Wikipedia 60–60 cm
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS, one source
Not known yet: flowers, heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Hawaiian
- ‘ōali
- Japanese
- オオバノイノモトソウ
- Spanish
- helecho de Creta
- French
- Ptéris de Crète
- Dutch
- Lintvaren
- Czech
- křídelnice krétská
- Chinese (China)
- 欧洲凤尾蕨
- Chinese
- 大葉鳳尾蕨, 凤尾草, 小贯众
- Russian
- Птерис критский
- Korean
- 큰봉의꼬리
- Danish
- Vinge bregne
- Portuguese
- Samambaia-prata
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Pteris cretica (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.