Margaret and Stef here, We are blogging about the Umbrella Ferns that we saw on our hike in Tongariro National Forest last week.

Name: Umbrella Fern

Genus: Sticherus Cunninghamii

Umbrella ferns grow in open habitats and mostly in the tropics. They tend to grow on banks and the floor of the forest where the sunlight can reach them. It is found in higher altitudes, we found this picture at about 3700 ft above sea level. The stem system is very distinctive in that it has one stem that brances into two, each divergance has many leafs. It was first identified in 1979 and goes by many traditional Maori common names such as Rarauheriki, Tapuwae kotuku, and Waekura.