Diploblechnum acuminatum

Blechnaceae

Diploblechnum acuminatum (C.T.White & Goy) Gasper & V.A.O.Dittrich

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/8027775

Rhizome short-creeping. Fronds dimorphic, 20–70 cm long, 12–27 cm wide. Stipe 17–34 cm long, brown, glabrous except for linear-lanceolate acuminate reddish brown scales at base. Lamina deltoid, pinnate, with 2–5 pairs of pinnae; rachis and costae brown to greenish-brown, ±glabrous except for a few scattered scales and short hairs in pinna axils; sterile pinnae oblong-lanceolate, long-acuminate, unequal and subcordate at rachis, 7–17 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm wide, shortly stalked at base of lamina, becoming adnate towards apex; margins crenate; veins anastomosing; basal pinnae longest; bulbils sometimes present in axils of uppermost pinnae; fertile pinnae to c. 3 mm wide. Spores 40 × 24 µm wide, tuberculate and minutely vermiculate. 

Endemic to a small upland area of NE QLD on the Main Coast Range near Mt Spurgeon, Mt Carbine and Mt Lewis.

Terrestrial in high altitude rainforest or microphyll fern forest usually near creeks.

Considered difficult to cultivate outside of its natural range and habitat.