Doodia aspera

Blechnaceae

Doodia aspera R.Br.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/70944

Prickly Rasp Fern

Rhizome erect, to c. 10 cm tall, or short- to long-creeping. Stipe with tubercles. Fronds not dimorphic. Lamina pinnate, 13.5–49.5 cm long, 2–30 cm wide; apical lobe c. (one-sixth–) one-ninth to one-tenth or less of lamina length. Pinnae simple, all except (occasionally) the lowest pair adnate to rachis; longest pinnae 1–13 (–31) cm long, 4–12 (–20) mm wide; rachis and abaxial surface of pinna midvein with tubercles. Sori 0.8–2 mm long, 0.8–1.5 mm wide, discrete, rarely contiguous when mature, in 1 or 2 rows on each side of pinna midvein; inner row (0–) 0.2–1 mm from pinna midvein, nearer to it when 2 rows on each side than when only 1 is present; outer row usually nearer to margin than to pinna midvein. 

Eastern Australia and New Zealand. In tropical Queensland it is usually found in the western tableland areas.

Terrestrial, usually in rocky areas in rainforest or wet sclerophyll forest.

Readily cultivated in a container or in the ground in a semi-shaded tropical, subtropical or temperate garden or fernery.

Key to tropical Australian species of Doodia:

1a. Fronds strap-like and unlobed for more than half of their length = Doodia linearis

1b. Fronds pinnately lobed, not strap-like for more than half their length = 2

2a. Pinnae sessile and decurrent throughout = Doodia aspera

2b. Lower pinnae stalked, upper pinnae sessile and decurrent = 3

3a. Transition from stalked to sessile decurrent pinnae abrupt over 1–3 pinna pairs = Doodia media

3b. Transition from stalked to sessile decurrent pinnae gradual over 4–6 pinna pairs = 4

4a. Lower and mid pinnae deeply pinnatifid or pinnatisect = Doodia dissecta

4b. Lower and mid pinnae simple, not as above = Doodia caudata