Cheilanthes praetermissa

Pteridaceae

Cheilanthes praetermissa D.L.Jones

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/62417

Fronds to 31 cm long and 8 cm wide; stipe and rachis dark red-brown, glabrous, or with sparse scales and hairs of various lengths. Lamina ovate or triangular, 2-pinnate to 3-pinnatifid at base, 2-pinnatifid for most of length, leathery; larger pinnae triangular; lowest pair unequally basiscopically divided; pinnules linear-oblong or linear-triangular, broader and rounded for lower pinnae or sterile fronds; ultimate pinnules sometimes slightly caudate; margins entire or lobed; upper surface glabrous or with sparse, short hairs; lower surface glabrous or with short to medium hairs (densest on midrib), pale, with conspicuously dark midrib for part of its length; lower pinnule surface usually paler than upper surface. Spores rounded-tetrahedral, granulose and trilete, with sparse, reticulate-echinate ornamentation, 33–45 µm diam., 32 per sporangium.

Endemic to Arnhem Land area of NT.

Terrestrial in open forest or vine forest, often near or in cracks in rocks.

Similar to Cheilanthes pumilio. Cheilanthes praetermissa  may be distinguished by its more leathery frond texture and color and the lack of visible lateral veins (cf. lamina membraneous and lateral veins visible in C. pumilio).