Asplenium monanthemum L.
Asplenium monanthes L. var. triangularipinnatum Bonap.
Asplenium repente Desv.

Rhizome erect to suberect, ± 3 mm diameter; rhizome scales black, margin paler, lanceolate in outline, apex gradually tapering to a slender hairpoint, subentire, up to 6 mm long. Fronds uniform, tufted, firmly herbaceous, erect, sometimes proliferous, gemmae on the upper half of stipe. Stipe up to 20 cm long, dark brown to almost black, with scattered scales when young, glabrous at maturity. Lamina 15-60 cm × 1.8-3.5 cm, pinnate, linear-oblong in outline, decrescent and acute. Pinnae up to 45 pairs, hairless on both surfaces, roughly rectangular, acroscopic margin and apex toothed, basiscopic margin entire with the costa running near the basiscopic margin, middle pinnae 1-1.7 x 0.5-0.8 cm. Rhachis black. Sori one (occasionally two), elongate-linear to oval in outline, situated near the costa and parallel to the basal margin of the pinna, to 5 mm long; indusium whitish, membranous, entire, linear, to 1 mm wide.

Differs from similar species by having a gemmiferous stipe, black rhachis and only 1-2 sori per pinna

monanthes: ´one flower`, this fern has a single sorus per pinna.

Shaded floors in evergreen forest, often near stream, bamboo or podocarpus forest; less often in riverine woodland or in the heath zone near streams.

Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania , Uganda, Zimbabwe.

Terrestrial.