Potamon fluviatile and covers parts of many countries with a Mediterranean coastline. It is found in mainland Italy and on the Balkan Peninsula from Dalmatia to the Axios River in Greece. It is also found on a number of islands, including Sicily, Malta and Gozo, the Ionian Islands, Aegean Islands, Sporades and Andros in the Cyclades. Although the species as a whole is widespread, it is declining in numbers, and these insular populations are particularly vulnerable. "Potamon fluviatile" is widely distributed in much of mainland Italy, especially in the provinces of Trento, Lombardy, Veneto, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, Apulia, and Calabria,
Blechnum fluviatile Blechnum fluviatile Blechnum fluviatile is a fern known in the Māori language as kiwikiwi. A herbaceous plant, "B. fluviatile" is a "hard fern" of the genus "Blechnum" in the family Blechnaceae. It was identified by Patrick Brownsey in 1979. Other common names are star fern, creek fern, kawakawa and kiwakiwa. Ladderlike fronds of "B. fluviatile" measure up to long. Growing in a distinctive ground-hugging rosette shape, its fertile fronds – dark brown and spiky – stand upright from the centre, while the drooping sterile fronds with their nearly round leaflets, form the rosette. As the parent plant ages it develops