Pteris boivinii (Hook.) Bedd.
Allosorus boivinii (Hook.) Kuntze

Rhizome erect to short creeping; rhizome scales up to 10 mm long, top slowly tapering to a point, dark to golden brown, paler margins. Fronds monomorphic, tufted, erect, coriaceous. Stipe up to 22 cm long, as long to 1.8 times as long as the lamina, brownish black, shining, with a few scales near the base, similar to those on the rhizome. Lamina 2 to 3-pinnate on the basiscopically developed basal pinnae, sharply triangular in outline, c. 10-18 × 5.6-15 cm; pinnae up to 15 pairs, deltate, petiolate; pinnules oblong to ovate-rectangular in outline, margins entire, apex rounded, base cordate, articulated to the apices of short petiolules, up to 18 × 3-6 mm, deep subglossy green above, paler below, hairless on both surfaces; veins hardly visible, free; rhachis, secondary rhachis brownish black, with short brown hairs on the upper surfaces. Sori marginal, continuous to within a few milimeters of the apex; indusium entire, membranous, continuous.

boivinii: named after L.H. Boivin (1808-1852), French collector and botanist.

Granite 'whalebacks', on quartzite and sandstone in rock crevices and at the edge of vegetation islands overlying granite sheetrock.

Africa, Comolo Isl., Madagascar, Mauritius, as well as Sri Lanka and southern India.

Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania , Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Lithophytic, terrestrial.