Brake Fern (Pteris cretica) Plant Spotlight

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Today, we have a plant spotlight for the variegated brake fern, botanically known as Pteris cretica. This is a beautiful fern that really lights up your indoor garden. As you can see, I do have a care video on this plant. This spotlight provides some extra nuggets of interesting information about the plant and discusses how wonderful it is to have in your indoor garden.

As mentioned, this is a real eye-catching plant. You really can’t go wrong putting this plant in your indoor garden. I love the creamy white centers of the leaves and how they’re beautifully outlined with gorgeous greenery. The shape of the fronds is just so pretty. It’s a really nice plant to grow indoors. It grows very well, provided you give it what it needs. It’s truly stunning.

This fern is from the Pteris genus of plants, which includes many fern species. Most of them are native to Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. The Pteris genus includes more than 300 varieties, and this is one of those beautiful varieties. This particular one is Pteris cretica, the cultivar Albolineata. It’s commonly known as brake fern and sometimes called ribbon fern, and you can see why because the leaves resemble ribbons.

The genus name comes from the Greek “pteris,” which means fern, in reference to the plant’s colorful fern-like foliage. “Cretica” means “of or from Crete,” referencing part of the species’ native range. So, if you’ve ever wondered about these Greek or Latin-sounding names, there are good reasons for them. Now you know that “cretica” means “of or from Crete,” and “pteris” means fern in Greek.

This plant has fronds like many types of ferns, but in this case, they’re variegated with that creamy white center. You don’t always see this variegation on many ferns, as many ferns are just one color. Variegation is not as common in many plants and ferns, which is one of my favorite things about this plant.

The Pteris cretica has an upright clumping growth habit. It can reach 8 to 24 inches tall and 1 to 2 feet wide, depending on your indoor growing conditions. It’s definitely worth trying this plant out to see if you can keep it happy and healthy in your indoor garden. I love seeing it every morning in a spot where it brightens up my day with its sunny disposition.

So, there you go—a beautiful plant to add to your indoor garden. As mentioned, I also have a care video available.

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