Prosaptia fuscopilosa

Polypodiaceae

Prosaptia fuscopilosa (F.Muell. & Baker) Parris

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/178039

Rhizome scales medium brown to blackish with whitish or pale to dark red-brown marginal hairs. Frond lamina 5–17 (–25) cm long, 8–19 (–27) mm wide; pinnae 18–42 pairs; longest pinnae 4–15 mm long, 2–5 mm wide; margins usually entire, sometimes crenulate; hairs medium to dark red-brown, simple, 0.3–1.5 mm long, eglandular, on margins and both surfaces of lamina and rachis, with 0.3–1 mm long forked hairs abaxially on rachis and lamina and sometimes adaxially on rachis and lamina. Sori sunken in shallow depressions, sometimes with rim less than 0.1 mm tall. 

Endemic to NE QLD between the Windsor Tableland and Evelyn Tableland.

Epiphytic or lithophytic in low- to upper- montane rainforest,  usually found on granite rocks and boulders near streams.

Key to Australian Prosaptia spp.;

1a. Sori not sunken in pits with a raised rim, medial, not protruding beyond the lamina margin = Prosaptia fuscopilosa

1b. Sori sunken in pits with a raised rim, supra-medial to submarginal resulting in a protrusion on the lamina margin = 2

2a. Sori in pouches on the margin, few pairs, restricted to the lobe apex = Prosaptia contigua

2b. Sori in rimmed depressions, several pairs, not restricted to the lobe apex = Prosaptia maidenii