Phlegmarius sooianus Lawalrée

Plant 40-60 cm, subleathery. Stems up to 5-6 mm thick at the base. Leaves up to 10(-12) x 4(-5) mm, ovate in outline, base subcordate, apex acute, entire, , spreading almost perpendicular to stem, flat or nearly flat, midrib visible. Apical spikes, up to 15 x 0.1-0.2 cm, bracts included, forked 1-5 times; bracts as long or slightly longer than the sporangia, ovate-subrounded, obtuse or subacute at the top, the lower ones sharply and strongly different from the leaves.

Can be distinguished from H. tournayana by its shorter fertile spike (to 40 x 0.35 cm in H. tournayana) and the leaves that are subcordate at the base (rounded in H. tournayana).

Mostly on truncs of Elaeis in plantations, 1100 m altitude.

See African distribution.

Dem. Republic of Congo.

Epiphytic.