Puerto Rico maidenhair facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Puerto Rico maidenhair |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Adiantum
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| Species: |
vivesii
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The Puerto Rico maidenhair (scientific name: Adiantum vivesii) is a very rare type of maidenhair fern. It's special because it's only found in one place in the world!
Where This Rare Fern Lives
The Puerto Rico maidenhair fern is found only in Puerto Rico. This means it is endemic to that island. There's just one known group of these ferns, with about 1,000 individual plants. They grow near a town called Quebradillas, which is on the northern side of the island.
Scientists first found this fern in 1985. They officially described it as a new species in 1989. Because it was so rare, it was quickly put on the endangered species list. This list helps protect plants and animals that are at risk of disappearing forever.
Scientists think this fern might be a "hybrid". A hybrid plant is like a mix of two different parent plants. In this case, they believe Adiantum vivesii is a mix of two other common fern species: Adiantum obliquum and A. tetraphyllum.
In 2003, a similar fern was found on an island called Martinique. This suggests that the same kind of hybrid might have formed more than once.
A Single Plant and How It Grows
In 2000, a student from the University of Puerto Rico studied this rare fern very closely. She dug carefully around the area where the ferns grew. What she found was amazing! She discovered that all the ferns in this single group were actually connected. They were all part of one giant plant!
This single plant was connected by a long underground stem called a rhizome. Think of a rhizome like an underground root that can send up new shoots. This fern produces spores, which are like tiny seeds for ferns. However, the student found that these spores didn't grow into new baby ferns. There were no small, new plants growing nearby.
This means the Puerto Rico maidenhair fern does not use sexual reproduction to make new plants. Instead, it only uses vegetative reproduction. This is when a plant grows new parts from its existing stems, roots, or leaves, like the rhizome sending up new shoots.
Why It Might Not Be a True Species
Based on these studies, scientists believe the Puerto Rico maidenhair fern is a "sterile hybrid". This means it's a mix of two other species, but it can't reproduce on its own to make new, separate plants. Since it only grows bigger by sending out its rhizome, some scientists think it might not be a true, separate species.
Because of this, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has suggested that it be taken off the endangered species list. As of 2011, it was still on the list.
