Creek Fern

Botanical name: Cranfillia fluviatilis
Synonyms: Spicanta fluviatilis, Stegania fluviatilis, Lomaria fluviatilis var. ramosa, Lomaria fluviatilis, Lomaria rotundifolia, Blechnum fluviatile
Common name(s): Creek Fern, Kiwikiwi, Kiwakiwa

About:
Creek fern is a small, distinctive indigenous hard fern found in New Zealand and south-eastern Australia. It forms a low rosette of spreading sterile fronds, with narrow upright fertile fronds emerging from the centre. Its preference for damp, shaded stream banks, gullies and forest floors makes it a characteristic fern of cool moist forest habitats.

Natural habitat:
Damp shaded forests, stream banks, creek margins, boggy forest floors, gullies and moist acidic soils.

Growing environment:
Prefers shade or semi-shade with consistently moist, humus-rich soil. Best suited to cool, sheltered sites with high humidity and reliable moisture.

Endemic distribution:
Indigenous to New Zealand and south-eastern Australia. In New Zealand it occurs throughout much of the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura.

Height:
10–50 cm

Width:
30–60 cm

Flowering:
N/A – ferns do not flower.

Fruiting:
N/A – reproduces by spores.

Uses:
• Shaded fern gardens
• Streamside planting
• Damp native garden areas
• Forest underplanting
• Fern collections
• Riparian restoration

Appearance:
Growth habit:
A compact ground fern forming a distinctive rosette. Sterile fronds spread outward close to the ground, while fertile fronds stand upright from the centre. Older plants may develop a short central trunk and form small colonies.

Leaves:
Sterile fronds are ladder-like, spreading or drooping, with rounded to nearly circular pinnae arranged along the frond. Fertile fronds are narrower, darker and more upright, with reduced pinnae bearing spores.

Flowers:
No flowers are produced. Creek fern reproduces by spores rather than flowers and seed.

Fruit:
No fruit is produced. Spores are carried on the fertile fronds, which rise above the sterile rosette.

Ecology:
Creek fern contributes to damp forest-floor communities and helps stabilise moist streamside soils. Its low rosette

provides shelter for small invertebrates and helps retain humidity close to the ground.

Associated habitats:
Podocarp-broadleaf forest, damp gullies, shaded creek banks, boggy forest margins, riparian forest and wet shaded slopes.

How to grow:
Plant in shade or semi-shade in moist, acidic, humus-rich soil. Keep consistently damp, especially during establishment and dry periods. Avoid exposed, hot or dry sites.

Propagation:
Propagated from spores or by careful division of established clumps. Young plants need constant moisture, shade and protection from drying winds.

Cultural use:
Kiwikiwi has recorded traditional Māori medicinal uses, including use of chewed fronds for soreness or ulceration of the mouth and crushed fronds during weaning.

Garden value:
An attractive small fern for damp shaded gardens, creek edges and fern collections. Its neat rosette form and contrasting upright fertile fronds make it especially useful for naturalistic forest-floor plantings.