Alsophila woollsiana

Cyatheaceae

Alsophila woollsiana F.Muell.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/83690

Rhizome erect, to 6 m tall, to 15 cm diam.; older stipe bases sometimes shed. Stipe to 80 cm long; base dark and tuberculate; scales dark, thick, basally terete, 1.5–2.5 cm long, c. 2 mm wide, flat but thick distally, with narrow sharply distinct fragile margins and a short thick apical seta; bases of scales covered with a rust-coloured powder. Frond lamina to 2 m long; longest pinnae c. 60 cm long; basal pinnae c. 30 cm long; pinnules commonly to 8 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, lobed thoughout to less than 1 mm from the costa; lobes crenate-serrate; sinuses between them narrow; lower surface of costae with broad flat thin scales; largest scales brownish and bearing setae, grading to smaller pallid ones; many slender flexuous hairs also present; scales on costules similar but smaller. Sori near costules; indusium entirely on costular side of receptacle, small and thin, hidden by mature sporangia; paraphyses shorter than sporangia. 

Endemic to NE QLD between the McDowall Range and Seaview Range.

Terrestrial in rainforest, usually along margins in well lit areas and on slopes above creeks.