Asplenium attenuatum

Aspleniaceae

Asplenium attenuatum R.Br.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/105082

Ferns with a rosette of semi-erect fronds. Rhizome erect or short creeping, scaly. Stipe and rachis dark chocolate brown, densely scaly; stipe 1–11 cm long, 0.5–1 mm diam. Lamina very narrowly ovate to very narrowly triangular, 7–40 cm long, 5–25 mm wide, either simple, lobed in lower third only, or pinnate at base and decreasingly lobed and incised upwards; lobes irregularly serrate-dentate; apices long-acuminate and often proliferous; both surfaces dull green; lower surface abundantly scaly. Sori to 18 mm long, sometimes curved away from midrib. Perispores dark with fimbriate wings and ±smooth lacunae; exospores 36.5–39.8 × 25.6–27.5 µm (means).

NE QLD from Mt Dryander [Whitsundays] south into NSW. Also in New Caledonia.

Lithophytic or terrestrial, usually near waterfalls in mesic vine forest or rainforest.