''Arachniodes aristata'' is a species of

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

in the family

Dryopteridaceae The Dryopteridaceae are a family of leptosporangiate ferns in the order Polypodiales. They are known colloquially as the wood ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family is placed in the suborder ...

. It is a glossy fern with fronds up to long. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

was collected by George Forster at an unknown island in the Pacific Ocean, when travelling on the

second voyage of James Cook The second voyage of James Cook, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the Royal Society, was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great so ...

. This plant was first formally named ''Polypodium aristatum'' in 1786 in ''the Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus'', published by his father

Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Reformed (Calvinist) pastor and naturalist of partially Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America. He is best known ...

. The specific epithet "''aristata''" derives from Latin, meaning "bearing a bristle".

References

Dryopteridaceae Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Ferns of Australia Flora of China Flora of Oceania Flora of India (region) Flora of New Zealand Flora of New Guinea Flora of Malesia Plants described in 1786 {{Dryopteridaceae-stub