Davallia pyxidata

Davalliaceae

Davallia pyxidata Cav.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/81645

Hare's-Foot Fern

Rhizome, thick, white, waxy, scales usually falling complete. Fronds markedly dimorphic, 10–50 cm long, 5–25 cm at widest point, coriaceous. Stipe 3–16 cm long, glabrous except at extreme base; rachis glabrous except for a few crisped hairs in axils. Sori submarginal; indusium usually c. 1 mm long, often unattached at sides near apex, flaring slightly. 

Endemic to E Australia from the Wet Tropics QLD to central NSW coast.

Epiphytic, lithophytic or occasionally terrestrial in a wide variety of vine forest and wet sclerophyll forest. A common inhabitant of Drynaria and Platycerium nests.

An attractive ornamental fern that can be invasive in greenhouse situations.

Easy to cultivate in a hanging container or planted in a nest-fern in a tropical or subtropical garden or fernery.

Similar to Davallia solida but differing in lamina shape, Davallia pyxidata having deciduous rhizome scales and having rhizomes that stick out from the substrate, especially when growing in other epiphtyes.