Pteris quadriaurita Retz. var. africana Bonap.
Pteris biaurita L. var. africana Bonap.

Rhizome short, erect; rhizome scales lanceolate to linear in outline, usually dark in the middle, pale at the margins, 3–4 mm long. Fronds tufted, ± 1 m tall. Stipe 50–75 cm long, scaly at the base, quite distinctly to almost imperceptibly spinulose or rough. Lamina bipinnate, oblong to ovale in outline, 40 × 40 cm, with 2–7 pairs of laterale pinnae and terminal resembling but much bigger; pinnae oblanceolate or lanceolate-oblong in outline, 14–40 × 5–12 cm with 14–27 pairs of pinnules; ultimate segments oblong to oblong-lanceolate in outline, apex rounded to subacute, the sterile tips toothed; apical segment triangular-lanceolate, 2–6.5 cm long, 9 mm wide, crenulate at tip; rhachis, costae and costulae not spinulose; veins free in the lobes or with very sparse anastomosis; costal areoles narrow. Sori 1–1.7 cm long, not circling the sinus, almost reaching the top of the lobe.

This species can be recognized by a 2-pinnate lamina , anastomosing veins, apices of the pinnae lobes not entire and stipe & rhachis without spines.

mildbreadii: type specimen was collected by Mildbread in Cameroon.

Seasonally moist evergreen forest floors, light shade.

See African distribution.

Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania .

Terrestrial.