Psilotum nudum

whiskfern

The common name “whisk fern” refers to the past use of clumping several of these plants together to use as a small broom. Whisk ferns are descendants of the Psilophytes, the first known group of vascular plants on earth. Fossil evidence, first uncovered in Scotland in the 1800s, indicates that Psilophytes appearing almost identical to whisk fern were prevalent about 400 million years ago.

Whisk fern lacks major organs common to other plants, such as leaves, stems, roots, and fruits. In place of roots, the aboveground stems extend underground and split into smaller stems that perform many of the same functions as true roots, though without their specialized differentiation. Instead of fruits, it produces tiny spores, which were harvested in bulk by native Hawaiians to use as a talcum on their loincloths to prevent chafing. They would also use the stems for weaving leis.

Whisk fern was once a very popular ornamental plant in Japan, with over one hundred cultivated varieties purportedly described.

In tropical regions, the plant grows epiphytically (on other plants), while growing in rock crevices in more temperate regions.