''Christella dentata'' is a small fern with widespread distribution in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and islands in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. There are many local common names. In

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

it grows north from the southern

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

region and is known as binung. Found on the margins of

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

, by streams or in more open forests with adequate moisture. Sori are circular in shape, with a hairy closed covering. It was the first species of fern to become naturalised on the Hawaiian Islands, recorded initially in Oahu in 1887 and now found on all major islands there. There it interbreeds with the local species '' C. cyatheoides'', with the resultant hybrid offspring sterile. ''Christella dentata'' is an edible fern, and also a folk remedy for skin diseases. Pharmacological study found that water extract of the fern was as toxic as anticancer drug

5-fluorouracil Fluorouracil (5-FU), sold under the brand name Adrucil among others, is a cytotoxic chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. By intravenous injection it is used for treatment of colorectal cancer, oesophageal cancer, stomach cancer, pancrea ...

against human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line (K562).Chai TT, Yeoh LY, Mohd Ismail NI, Ong HC, Wong FC (2015
Cytotoxicity and antiglucosidase potential of six selected edible and medicinal ferns
Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica - Drug Research. 72(2): 397-401.

References

Thelypteridaceae Ferns of Australasia Ferns of Asia Ferns of Africa Medicinal plants Plants described in 1775 {{Polypodiales-stub