Diploblechnum neglectum

Blechnaceae

Diploblechnum neglectum (F.M.Bailey) Gasper & V.A.O.Dittrich

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/8027971

Rhizome long-creeping. Fronds dimorphic, 30–64 cm long, 12–30 cm wide. Stipe 2–12 cm long (below dentately-lobed wing), brown, glabrous or with slender acuminate entire or finely dentate brown reddish-brown or bicolorous scales and multicellular hairs. Lamina ovate, deeply pinnatifid, with 12–50 pairs of pinnules; rachis and costae greenish above, brown below, glabrous or with some scales and hairs; sterile pinnules linear-lanceolate, 6–15 cm long, 7–20 mm wide, acuminate, coarsely serrate to almost lobed, joining at rachis abruptly to a broad serrate wing of tissue which extends below basal pinnules; veins anastomosing; basal pinnules shorter; fertile pinnules linear, with sterile tissue at base continuous with wing of tissue of rachis. Spores 35 × 23 µm, verrucose and minutely vermiculate to scaberulous. 

Endemic to ranges of NE QLD between Windsor Tableland and Halifax Bay.

Terrestrial fern in rainforest, often forming colonies on creek banks and on soaks in very wet areas.

The juvenile fronds of this species are often a deep bluish-purple. The mature lamina texture is crisp.

Considered difficult to cultivate outside of its natural range and habitat.