Polypodium astrosorum Christ
Polypodium propinquum var. laurentii Christ ex De Wild. & Durand

Rhizome thick, creeping, often woolly beneath; rhizome scales rust coloured, 1–4 x 1.2 mm, base peltate, margins with long thin hairs towards the apex formed of thin-walled cells with yellowish red contents. Sterile fronds elliptic in outline, 13–42 x 5–16 cm, base cordate, deeply lobed for 1/3–2/3 of the lamina, the lobes 1.2–7.5 cm long, 1.3–2 cm wide, pointed to rounded. Fertile fronds horizontal or drooping with petiole 5–35 cm long, winged at the apex or throughout its length; limb (20–)50–70 x (10–)20–40 cm, divided up to the rhachis into linear lobes 8–26 x 1.5–4 cm, acute or rounded; venation prominent. Sori thick, round, 3 mm diameter in a row on each side of and close to the costa.

laurentii: named after Laurent, who found this fern in DRC.

Evergreen or fringing forest, Brachystegia microphylla woodland, Brachystegia lowland evergreen forest bounderies.

See African distribution.

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania , Togo, Uganda.

Epiphytic.