Species

Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn ssp. centrali-africanum Hieron. ex R.E.Fr.

Photo: BT. Wursten
Zimbabwe

Synonyms	Pteridium centrali-africanum (Hieron.) Alston Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn subsp. caudatum (L.) Bonap. var. africanum Bonap. Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn var. africanum (Bonap.) R.M.Tryon
Common name
Description	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. Stipe up to 0.5 m long, underground portion swollen and covered with fine, brown hairs, above-ground portion pale-green, glabrous. Lamina 3-pinnate to 4-pinnatifid, 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 as long as the lamina; pinnae in the upper half 2-pinnate. Pinnules deeply incised, joined to the costules, long caudate, lobes long caudate or linear, entire, lower surface with short hairs or subglabrous. Rhachis and secondary rhachises pale brown, eventually hairless. Sori linear, continuous, situated just inside the inrolled margins; pseudo-indusium continuous, membranous, c. 0.5 mm wide, ciliate.
Notes
Derivation	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.
Habitat	Open Brachystegia woodland, along fringes of riverine vegetation, grassland, disturbed areas, weed in cultivation.
Distribution worldwide	See African distribution.
Distribution in Africa	Angola , Burundi , Congo , Dem. Republic of Congo , Gabon , Malawi , Mozambique , Rwanda , Tanzania , Zambia , Zimbabwe .
Growth form	Terrestrial.
Literature	Burrows, J.E. (1990) Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies. Frandsen, Sandton. Pages 103 - 104. (Includes a picture). Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria. Pages 209 - 210. Kornas, J. (1979) Distribution and ecology of the Pteridophytes in Zambia. Polska Akademia Nauk Wydzial II Nauk Biologicznych. Pages 82 - 83. Roux, J.P. (2009) Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Page 112. Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta.Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report, 13 Pages 89 - 90. (Includes a picture). Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta.Flora Zambesiaca, 0 Pages 88 - 89. (Includes a picture). Thardieu-Blot, M.L. (1964) Ptéridophytes vol.8.Flore du Gabon, Pages 70 - 71. (Includes a picture). Verdcourt, B. (1999) Dennstaedtiaceae.Flora of Tropical East Africa, Pages 5 - 8. (Includes a picture).