Asplenium laserpitiifolium

Aspleniaceae

Asplenium laserpitiifolium Lam.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/105562

Johnstone River Fern

Epiphytic or lithophytic ferns with semi-erect or pendent fronds. Rhizomes erect, scaly. Stipe and rachis almost black, sparsely scaly, smooth; stipe 10–50 cm long, 1–4 mm diam. Lamina ovate, 3–4-pinnate at base, 22–75 cm long, 7.5–60 cm wide, glossy green, sparsely scaly. Primary pinnae in 15–25 pairs, ovate or triangular; apices acuminate; longest pinnae below middle, 4–33 cm long, 2.2–13 cm wide. Secondary pinnae ovate, mostly stalked; longest pinnae 1.4–8.5 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide. Tertiary pinnae elliptic or obovate; bases unequally cuneate; margins entire; apices obtuse or truncate and toothed; longest pinnae 12–16 mm long, 5–12 mm wide, sometimes divided into quaternary pinnae up to 10 mm long and 5 mm wide. Sori to 4 mm long. Perispores pale with smooth broad ridges and smooth lacunae; exospores 30.5–31.5 × 19–19.5 µm (means).

Torres Strait to Rockingham Bay NE QLD. Also in Seychelles, Asia, Malesia and Pacific Islands.

Epiphytic or lithophytic in simple to complex notophyll to mesophyll vine forest and mangrove rainforest, usually in high rainfall humid areas. Commonly grows from the base of Asplenium nidus or Platycerium hillii in rainforest, or from the sides of mossy boulders in rockpile rainforest.

An attractive horticultural fern that can grow into large and handsome specimens.

Easily cultivated in sheltered areas of the coastal wet tropics either in a container of coarse free draining mix in a fernery or planted in the base of a nest-epiphyte on a tree in the garden. This species is slow to re-establish but it's very hardy and long lived once established.