Pyrrosia longifolia

Polypodiaceae

Pyrrosia longifolia (Burm.f.) C.V.Morton

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/116685

Long-leafed Felt Fern

Rhizome long-creeping, branched, 1.5–4 mm diam. Scales narrowly ovate, (1–) 2.5–5 mm long, 0.9–1.5 mm wide, appressed, shiny, dark to blackish brown in the middle, with pale chartaceous entire to ragged margins. Fronds erect to pendulous, 3–66 cm long. Stipes scattered, winged to base, (0–) 0.6–6 (–10) cm long. Lamina long, narrow, fleshy, recurved, 0.7–3.6 cm wide; apical portion narrowest; upper surface pale green, glabrous; lower surface silvery grey, covered with a close thin layer of interlacing hairs; midrib raised beneath. Sori round, 0.5–1.2 mm diam., crowded in 4–8 rows on either side of midrib, reaching half to nearly three-quarters of the way down lamina. Spores 47.5–75 µm long, 27.5–40 µm wide, irregularly verrucose. 

Occurs in NE QLD from Torres Strait to Rockingham Bay. Also widespread in Asia, Malesia and the Pacific Islands.

Epiphytic or lithophytic in a wide variety of vine forest and wet-sclerophyll forest communities.

A drought tolerant species expressing CAM photosynthesis.

Easily cultivated in a pot, slab or on a tree in a moist tropical or subtropical garden.