Onoclea polypodioides L.
Gleichenia argentea Kaulf.
Gleichenia glauca Sw.
Mertensia coeruleoglauca Poir.
Calymella polypodioides (L.) Ching

Rhizome widely creeping, branched, 1-5 mm in diameter; rhizome scales dark brown, long-spined, up to 1 mm long. Fronds spaced 2-20 cm apart, 30-90 cm long. Stipe up to 60 cm long, stiff, wiry, glabrous, shiny. Lamina dichotomously divided, circular in outline. Pinnules pinnatifid with small, 2-3 × 1.5-2 mm, triangular ultimate lobes, glabrous, joined to the costules. Sori embedded in the lobes at the apical side near the costa, creating a raised impression of the sori on the upper surface of the lobe.

Differs from Stricherus umbraculiferus by having pinnules that are only present on the distal lamina axes; differs from Dicranopteris linearis by having sori that are sunken into the lamina. Futhermore the ultimate segments are small and rounded to triangular.

polypodioides: resembling a Polypodium, a fern genus that also has the sori sunk into the frond surface.

Full sun or light shade in crevices of cliffs, along stream- and earthbanks and on road embankments, disturbed areas, in cool regions of high rainfall or frequent mist.

Africa, Amsterdam Isl., Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion.

Angola, Burundi, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania , Zimbabwe.

Lithophytic, terrestrial.