Species · genus Pteris · Pteridaceae

Ladder Brake

Pteris vittata L.

Also known as: Chinese Brake · Chinese Ladder Brake · Ladder Brake Fern

Growth habit

perennial or rhizomatous geophyte

Native range

Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Azores, Baleares, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, DR Congo, East Himalaya, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Free State, Ghana, Greece, Gulf of Guinea Is., India, Italy, Japan, Jawa, Kenya, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Libya, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Is., Northern Provinces, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Queensland, Rwanda, Réunion, Santa Cruz Is., Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Socotra, Solomon Is., Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Tonga, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uganda, Vanuatu, Victoria, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Pteris vittata — reference photo — (c) ROY, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0

Cultivars of P. vittata

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under P. vittata yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A Widespread Fern

Pteris vittata is a perennial fern, growing from a rhizome, first described by Linnaeus in 1753. It belongs to the Pteridaceae family, within the genus Pteris.

Source: Kew

A Vast Native Range

This fern's native range stretches across the tropical and subtropical Old World through to the southwest Pacific, taking in territory from Algeria and Madeira to China, Japan, and Fiji. It has also established itself well beyond that range, having been introduced into parts of North and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. It grows chiefly within the subtropical biome.

Source: Kew

Habit and Human Uses

It grows as a perennial or rhizomatous geophyte, spreading by way of an underground rhizome rather than persisting as a single fixed crown. Beyond its garden presence, people have put it to work as a poison, a medicine, a food, and for various environmental purposes.

Source: Kew

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 4-9d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 9 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

13–24 °C

Soil mix

Moisture-retentive mix with added lime or grit

Propagation

Division of the clump, or spores

Fertilizing

Dilute liquid feed monthly during active growth

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Never flowers; reproduces by spores

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

(c) ROY, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 4-9d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Ladder Brake yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.