Icarus filiformis

Icarus is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, subfamily Blechnoideae, with a single species Icarus filiformis, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I).^[1] The genus is accepted in a 2016 classification of the family Blechnaceae,^[3] but other sources sink it into a very broadly defined Blechnum, equivalent to the whole of the PPG I subfamily.^[4]

Icarus filiformis
Icarus filiformis in Christchurch Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Suborder:	Aspleniineae
Family:	Blechnaceae
Genus:	Icarus Gasper & Salino[1]
Species:	I. filiformis
Binomial name
Icarus filiformis (A.Cunn.) Gasper & Salino[1]
Synonyms[2]
Blechnum filiforme (A.Cunn.) Ettingsh. Blechnum reptans (Banks & Sol. ex G.Forst.) Luerss. Lomaria filiformis A.Cunn. Lomaria pimpinellifolia Hook.f. Lomaria propinqua A.Cunn. Lomariopsis heteromorpha (Sm.) T.Moore Osmunda reptans Banks & Sol.ex G.Forst. Spicanta filiformis (A.Cunn.) Kuntze Stenochlaena feejeensis Brack. Stenochlaena heteromorpha J.Sm. Struthiopteris filiformis (A.Cunn.) Ching

Icarus filiformis, synonym Blechnum filiforme,^[2] is known as thread fern or pānoko in Māori. It is endemic to New Zealand. It has a creeping and climbing habit. It has three different types of fronds: long climbing fronds with long pointed leaves, shorter creeping fronds with nearly round leaves, and fertile fronds with threadlike leaves that give the species its common name.^[5]