Taenitis blechnoides

Pteridaceae

Taenitis blechnoides (Willd.) Sw.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/66195

Rhizome short-creeping, c. 4 mm diam. Fronds to c. 60 cm long, erect. Stipes to 30 cm long, closely spaced in 2 ranks, to c. 1 cm apart. Lamina simple when young, 1-pinnate when mature. Pinnae very variable in number, width and texture, usually 1–6 (–10) pairs, c. 15–20 cm long, stalked except for 1 or 2 upper pairs which may be broadly attached and decurrent along the main rachis; terminal pinna longer; sterile pinnae commonly 1.5–2.5 cm wide; fertile pinnae c. 0.5–1.5 cm wide. Sori in a ±continuous band, between midrib and margin, 1–1.5 mm wide, closer to the margin than to the midrib in Australian specimens, occasionally submarginal; paraphyses with a series of distal cells very much shorter than the basal cells. 

Occurs in tropical Cape York Peninsula in QLD and Arnhem land in the NT. Also in Asia, Malesia and the Pacific Islands.

Terrestrial in swamp and riparian rainforest and in wet open woodland, often growing in swampy conditions under rainforest.

Readily cultivated in a greenhouse or garden in a tropical climate. Grows well in a container or tub of moist free draining growing medium. May be difficult to transplant.

Key to Australian Taenitis spp.:

1a. Sori a continuous elongate medial line parallel to the midrib = Taenitis blechnoides (In Australia known only from Cape York Peninsula and NT)

1b. Sori discontinuous along lateral veins = Taenitis pinnata