Pteris tremula, commonly known as Australian brake, tender brake, tender brakefern, shaking brake is a fern species of the family Pteridaceae native to sheltered areas and forests in eastern Australia and New Zealand. It has pale green, lacy fronds of up to 2 m in length, with an erect, tufted rhizome that is covered with narrow brown scales. It is fast-growing and easy to grow in cultivation, but can become weedy.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — TRY: 20 years · AusTraits: 3.5 years
Pollination syndromeabiotic
Raunkiær life formcryptophyte
Resprouting capacityfire_killed
Diet & foraging1
Parasiteindependent
Habitat & environment11
Aquaticterrestrial
Climatewet tropical
Climberself-supporting
Elevation max350 m
Elevation min0 m
Epiphyteterrestrial
Growth formherb
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · AusTraits: fern · TRY: F
Leaf compoundnesscompound
Leaf formelliptic
Leaf shapedeltate ovate
Woodinessnon-woody
Physiology & chemistry3
Nitrogen fixingnon_nitrogen_fixer
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
Specific leaf area (SLA)32.4 mm²/mg
Other traits1
Shoot length max100 cm
03Chemical composition9 compounds
Compounds documented for Pteris tremula across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Carotenoids (C40, β-β)3
Carotenoids (C40, β-ε)2
Carotenoids (C40, ε-ε)1
Illudalane sesquiterpenoids1
Kaurane and Phyllocladane diterpenoids1
Documented compounds9 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
(3R,3'R,13-cis)-beta,beta-Carotene-3,3'-diol
present
LOTUS
Cryptoxanthin
present
LOTUS
Lutein
present
LOTUS
Lutein 5,6-epoxide
present
LOTUS
Paniculoside III
present
LOTUS
Pterosin B
present
LOTUS
Pterosin J
present
LOTUS
Rhodoxanthin
present
LOTUS
Violaxanthin
present
LOTUS
05DNA & barcoding2 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Pteris tremula has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens2
Marker genes3
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections2
Countries1
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK3★rbcL4★ITS3
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPteris tremula carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
2n 2321×CCDB · book-LoveLove1977
CCDB · book-LoveLove1977 — Walker, T. G. 1962a
2n 2401×CCDB · new-zealand
CCDB · new-zealand
n 1162×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · Cave1962
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Tindale. 2002. In M. D. Tindale & S. K. Roy, A cytotaxonomic survey of the Pteridophyta of Australia. Austral. Syst. Bot. 15: 839–937.
CCDB · Cave1962 — T. G. Walker 1962a
07Deep time~0.06 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin0.06 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 139 records
Wild obs. + sensor4 547
Museum / vouchered1 552
Cultivated / captive1
Other39
Origin
Native126
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO13 912 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy92% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 850≤1 km 702≤10 km 227>10 km 77
3 856 georeferenced · 691 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor4 547
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy46% within 1 km
≤100 m 127≤1 km 210≤10 km 316>10 km 82
735 georeferenced · 817 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 552
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 1 records without
Open the mapnot free-living1
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions38 of 60 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record
209
Auckland, NZ
199
Wellington, NZ
186
Christchurch, NZ
152
Canberra, AU
108
UniKSlocation not on record
101
Mount Annan, AU
95
Brisbane, AU
92
Adelaide, AU
79
Cape Town, ZA
64
Hobart, AU
47
Palmerston, AU
27
Armidale, AU
25
Smithfield, AU
21
Rotorua, NZ
15
Chicago, US
14
Parkville, AU
8
Wollongong, AU
8
South Kensington, GB
6
Honolulu, US
5
Valparaiso, CL
5
John T. Waterhouse Herbariumlocation not on record
5
LDlocation not on record
4
James Cook Townsvillelocation not on record
4
Kew, GB
4
Wlocation not on record
4
WTUlocation not on record
3
HAWlocation not on record
3
Kensington, AU
3
Cambridge University Herbariumlocation not on record
3
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
3
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
3
La Trobe Universitylocation not on record
2
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
2
Corvallis, US
2
Saint Louis, US
2
Stockholm, SE
2
Batemans Bay, AU
2
QVMAGlocation not on record
2
Fullerton, US
2
NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environmentlocation not on record
2
Santa Barbara, US
2
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
2
Montréal, CA
1
Olocation not on record
1
BISHlocation not on record
1
Pretoria, ZA
1
Durban, ZA
1
Paris, FR
1
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
1
Bourges, FR
1
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
1
Moscow State Universitylocation not on record
1
Chapel Hill, US
1
Riverside, US
1
Davenport, US
1
Arcata, US
1
Podgorica, ME
1
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
1
Philadelphia, US
1
60 institutions · 1 544 of 1 552 vouchered records shown · 8 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Pteris tremula was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility6 139 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics2 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗