Icarus filiformis

Icarus filiformis
Icarus filiformis in Christchurch Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Aspleniineae
Family: Blechnaceae
Genus: Icarus
Gasper & Salino
Species:
I. filiformis
Binomial name
Icarus filiformis
(A.Cunn.) Gasper & Salino
Synonyms
  • Blechnum filiforme (A.Cunn.) Ettingsh.
  • Blechnum reptans (Banks & Sol. ex G.Forst.) Luerss.
  • Lomaria filiformis A.Cunn.
  • Lomaria pimpinellifolia Hook.f.
  • Lomaria propinqua A.Cunn.
  • Lomariopsis heteromorpha (Sm.) T.Moore
  • Osmunda reptans Banks & Sol.ex G.Forst.
  • Spicanta filiformis (A.Cunn.) Kuntze
  • Stenochlaena feejeensis Brack.
  • Stenochlaena heteromorpha J.Sm.
  • Struthiopteris filiformis (A.Cunn.) Ching

Icarus is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, subfamily Blechnoideae, with a single species Icarus filiformis, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). The genus is accepted in a 2016 classification of the family Blechnaceae, but other sources sink it into a very broadly defined Blechnum, equivalent to the whole of the PPG I subfamily.

Icarus filiformis, synonym Blechnum filiforme, is known as thread fern or pānoko in Māori. It is endemic to New Zealand. It has a creeping and climbing habit. It has three different types of fronds: long climbing fronds with long pointed leaves, shorter creeping fronds with nearly round leaves, and fertile fronds with threadlike leaves that give the species its common name.