Very similar to subsp. congrua but distinguished by its more thickly succulent and brittle laminar tissue, usually with some blue-green iridescence on the adaxial surface, and pinnae lobed about halfway to the costa. Subsp. congrua has thinner and less brittle laminar tissue, always lacking blue-green iridescence on the adaxial surface, and pinnae lobed to c. 1 mm from the costa, giving the frond a rather more open and less chunky look.
North Island: Volcanic Plateau.
Altitudinal range: 10 m.
Deparia petersenii subsp. petersenii is known only from Robbins Park, near Tauranga.
Occurs naturally in Himalayas, southern India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Naturalised in the Azores (Sledge 1977), south-east Brazil (Kato 1984) and Hawai‘i where Palmer (2003) noted that it was first collected in 1938 since spreading rapidly in disturbed areas and into intact native forest. It is also recorded as naturalised in Florida (Smith 1993) and sometimes in Australia (Jones 1998), but in these areas it appears to be more of an escape from cultivation than truly naturalised.
Recorded from concrete and brick walls in a garden close to glasshouses.
New record. Voucher AK 363422, 2016.
Parris (pers. comm. 2017) noted that Deparia petersenii subsp. petersenii has been in cultivation in New Zealand for some decades and used to be sold in garden centres, but that it didn’t survive long outside, even in Auckland or Kerikeri. The extent of its occurrence in New Zealand and its relationship to subsp. congrua require further investigation.