Aspidium sparsiflorum (Hook.) Diels
Polypodium sparsiflorum Hook.
Dictyopteris varians T.Moore
Tectaria varians (T.Moore) C.Chr.

Rhizome creeping, thick. Fronds monomorphic, spaced, subcoriaceous, gemmiferous. Stipe 70-90 cm long, light brown or streaked, grooved, base darker and set with narrow, dark brown scales, margin entire. Lamina pinnate, 40-50 x 20-30 cm, brown when dry, surface hairless; pinnae 4-5 pair and terminal pinna, lateral pinnae 13-17 x 4-5 cm, a bud present in the armpits, petiolate or sessile, alternate, apex abruptly narrowed to a 2 cm long point, base wedge-shaped, margins entire or irregularly wavy, terminal pinna resembling lateral ones, shortly decurrent, sometimes with a sharp 4-5 cm long lobe at the base; veinlets forming 2 or 3 rows of elongated areols in between the lateral veins, veinlets included. Sori irregularly scattered on the course of a vein, elongated; mostly exindusiate.

Rocky ground in rain forest; up to 300 m alt.

See African distribution.

Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan.

Terrestrial.