Pellaea paradoxa

Pteridaceae

Pellaea paradoxa (R.Br.) Hook.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/69079

Rhizome long-creeping; scales narrowly ovate, c. 1.5 mm long, basally attached, with a midrib of black occluded cells and margins of paler brown open cells; margins entire; apex attenuate and acute. Fronds 15–45 (–65) cm long. Stipe 6–40 cm long (50–80% length of frond), 1–2 mm diam., c. 1 cm apart; stipe and rachis dark brown, ±cylindrical, clothed with scales and uniseriate hairs; scales narrowly ovate, to c. 4 mm long, appressed, antrorse, ±deciduous, whitish to pale brown. Lamina ovate to broadly ovate, 1-pinnate (young fronds simple, cordate), with 7–20 (–30) shortly stalked pinnae (stalks 1–7 mm long), longest at base of frond. Pinnae ovate to narrowly ovate, asymmetric (basiscopic side broader), 20–60 (–75) mm long, 7–18 (–26) mm wide, all lateral pinnae ±same size, dark green above, pale beneath, coriaceous; base cordate; margins entire to minutely crenate, especially towards apex; apex mostly attenuate and acute (sometimes obtuse or mucronate); midrib usually bearing hairs and scales, especially on upper surface; lower surface between veins with a few scattered narrow scales; veins free, forked, oblique to the costae, obscure. Sorus a continuous marginal band c. 2–4 mm wide, reaching almost to pinna base; indusium marginal membranous, obscured by sporangia at maturity. Spores trilete, coarsely echinate. 

Eastern QLD, NSW and Lord Howe Island. In Queensland it occurs from the Windsor Tableland to SEQ.

Terrestrial in rainforest or tall wet-sclerophyll forest, usually among rocks on slopes or besides creeks.

Can be cultivated in a pot or in the ground but is slow to establish.

Pellaea nana, Pellaea calidirupium and Pellaea falcata. Some plants intermediate between Pellaea nana and Pellaea paradoxa have been recorded on the Herberton Range and Mt Windsor Tableland.

1a. rachis scales and hairs mid- to dark-brown, spreading = 2

1b. rachis scales and whitish to pale-brown appressed = 3

2a. rachis scales mostly 3–4 mm long, pinnae 22–56 mm long = Pellaea falcata

2b. rachis scales mostly 1–2.5 mm long, pinnae 5–25 mm long = Pellaea nana

3a. pinnae 20–60 mm long; all lateral pinnae the same length = Pellaea paradoxa

3b. pinnae 14–30 mm long; lateral pinnae reducing in length and width towards the frond apex = Pellaea calidirupium