Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes - Online edition

Actinostachys digitata

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Habit. © CSIRO

Close up of frond showing sori. © CSIRO

Family

Schizeaeae

Botanical name

Actinostachys digitata (L.) Wall.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/74941

Description

Rhizome short-creeping or suberect, clothed with long stiff glossy pale brown hairs. Fronds clustered, linear-flattened, grass-like, 9–35 cm long, 2–4 mm wide; surface smooth, slightly shiny, tapering at apex; midrib prominently raised on 1 side. Sporogenous lobes 5–18, linear, tufted at apex, 9–40 mm long, c. 0.5 mm wide, occasionally with some branches forked distally. Sporangia in a double row on either side of costule.

Distribution

Scattered across tropical and subtropical Australia. Also widespread in Asia, Malesia and Pacific Islands.

Habit and habitat

Terrestrial, usually sandy, loamy or rocky accumulations near water courses in vine forest.

Citation of Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes

Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/intro/index.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).

Field AR, Quinn CJ, Zich FA (2022) ‘Platycerium superbum’, in Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/entities/platycerium_superbum.htm (accessed online INSERT DATE).

Web edition hosted at https://apps.lucidcentral.org/ferns