Pteris capensis Thunb.
Allosorus capensis (Thunb.) Pappe & Rawson
Pteris coriifolia Kunze
Allosorus coriifolius (Kunze) Pappe & Rawson
Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn var. lanuginosum (Willd.) Kuhn
Pteris lanuginosa Bory ex Willd.

Bracken Rugombwe Uhombwe

Rhizome widely creeping, subterranean, 5-10 mm in diameter (up to 2.5 cm when fresh); rhizome scales brown, very fine, up to 1 mm long. Fronds widely spaced, stiff, hard, erect, pubescent fronds, 0.3-1.8(-3) m tall, often forming large, dominant colonies in suitable habitats. Stipe up to 0.5 m long, underground portion swollen and covered with fine, brown hairs, above-ground portion pale-green, glabrous. Lamina 3-pinnatifid to 4-pinnate, triangular to oblong-ovate in outline. Pinnae ovate-triangular in outline, up to 40 x 15 cm, standing out from the rhachis horizontally at nearly right angles; basal pinnae half as long as the lamina; pinnae in the upper half 3-pinnatifid. Pinnules deeply incised, joined to the costules, linear to oblong, lobes narrowly oblong with rounded apices, lower surface with short hairs. Rhachis and secondary rhachises pale brown, eventually hairless. Sori linear, continuous, situated just inside the inrolled margins; pseudo-indusium continuous, membranous, c. 0.5mm wide, ciliate.

The rhizomes of this fern are fire resistant and after periods of frost or drought, the dried, brittle fronds may persist for some time. New fronds will develop soon after the start of the rains, showing the typical "fiddleheads" of the unfolding fronds. It forms extensive colonies.

aquilinum: of an eagle; either because the spreading pinnae resemble the wings of an aegle or a reference to the shape of the vascular bundle in the stipe.
capense: of the Cape.

Grassland, open scrub, forest edges, rain forest clearings, woodland, thicket on coral rag and sandy soil at the coast, weed in cultivations.

This subspecies is widespread in tropical Africa & South Africa, also in Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion. The species as a whole is one of the most cosmopolitan fern species.

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania , Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Terrestrial.