Davallia hollandii Sim
Davallia nigrescens Hook.
Loxoscaphe nigrescens (Hook.) T. Moore
Asplenium hollandii (Sim) C. Chr.
Asplenium floccigerum Rosenst.
Asplenium spathulatum Peter

Rhizome erect, to 15 mm diameter; rhizome scales lanceolate in outline, glossy pale brown, up to 13 x 2.5 mm, hair-pointed, fimbriate. Fronds tufted, aching, not proliferous, herbaceous. Stipe 18-45 cm long, stipe and rhachis matt brown, sparsely set with hair-pointed scales. Lamina 50-100 × 19-50 cm, lanceolate in outline, 4-pinnate, acroscopic pinnules more developed, basal pinnae somewhat reduced. Pinnae up to 25 pairs, lanceolate in outline, up to 26 x 9 cm. Ultimate lobes c. 0.8-2 mm broad, hairless, oblanceolate, acute, margins entire. Sori cup-shaped, solitary, situated on the acroscopic side of the ultimate segments, protuding from the lobe margin, broadly oblong, 1-1.5 mm long; indusium entire, membranous, to 1 mm long/wide.

Differs from similar species by having distinctive cup-shaped, protuding sori and finely divided fronds.

hypo: below and melas: black; probably a reference to the dark environment in which this fern grows

Deeply shaded evergreen forest, often on tree ferns, sometimes terrestrial, rarely on rock.

See African distribution.

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania , Uganda, Zimbabwe.

Epiphytic.