Dryopteris foliosa C.Chr.
Arachniodes foliosa (C. Chr.) Schelpe
Aspidium aristatum sensu Sim

Rhizome creeping, 60-90 cm long, up to 7 mm in diameter; rhizome scales brown, linear-attenuate, up to 6 mm long, margin entire. Fronds spaced, arching, subcoriaceous. Stipe up to 50 cm long, straw-coloured, with small hairpointed scales in the lower half, glabrous in the upper half. Lamina up to 60 × 50 cm (45 x 30 cm in F.T.E.A.), broadly ovate-triangular in outline, bipinnatifid at the apex to 3-4-pinnate towards the base, basal pinnae largest, basiscopically developed and almost as long as the rest of the lamina. Pinnule lobes narrowly rhombic, aristate, dark glossy green above, paler below. Lamina hairless, except for hairpointed scales along the costae, costules and veins below. Rhachis straw-coloured with scattered hairpointed brownish scales. Sori up to 1 mm in diameter, up to 10 per ultimate segment; indusia circular, membranous, entire, peltate, shed at maturity.

Can be recognised by the long basal pinnae which are almost as long as the lamina; the pinnae of this species are long and curved.

webbiana: named after Philip Barker Webb (1793-1854), English botanist; foliosa: leafy, referring to the much divided, herbaceous lamina.

Deeply shaded streambanks in forest, montane and intermediate forest with Podocarpus, bamboo, ...

See African distribution.

Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania , Uganda, Zambia, Zambia.

Lithophytic, terrestrial.