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Pteris vittata
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Family:	Pteridaceae
Genus:	Pteris
Species:	P. vittata
Binomial name
	Pteris vittata; L.
Synonyms
	Pteris costata Bory; P. diversifolia Sw.; P. ensifolia Poir.; P. inaequilateralis Poir.; P. longifolia Wall.; P. microdonata Gaudin; P. vittata fo. cristata Ching in Ching & S.H.Wu; Pycnodoria vittata (L.) Small;

Pteris vittata, the Chinese brake,^[4] Chinese ladder brake,^[4] or simply ladder brake,^[4] is a fern species in the Pteridoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae.^[5] It is indigenous to Asia, southern Europe, tropical Africa, and Australia.^[4] The type specimen was collected in China by Pehr Osbeck.^[2]

Habitat and distribution

Pteris vittata is native and widespread in the paleotropics: found from the east, to the south tropical, and southern Africa (in Angola; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Tanzania (including the Zanzibar Archipelago); Cape Province, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Transvaal in South Africa; Eswatini; Uganda; Zambia; and Zimbabwe); temperate and tropical Asia (in the provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan in China; the prefectures of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan; and Thailand); and Australia, in the states of New South Wales,^[6] Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia.^[4]

Pteris vittata is often associated with limestone habitats. It may be seen growing on concrete structures and cracks, in buildings in the central business district and suburbs of Sydney.^[6]^[7] It is an introduced species in California, Texas, and the Southeastern United States.^[8]

A remnant population exists in the Italian peninsula, in Sicily, Calabria and Campania.^[9]

Uses

Although it grows readily in the wild, Pteris vittata is sometimes cultivated.^[4] It is grown in gardens for its attractive appearance,^[4] or used in pollution control schemes:^[4] it is known to be a hyperaccumulator plant of arsenic used in phytoremediation.^[10]