Drynaria quercifolia

Polypodiaceae

Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J.Sm.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/101153

Oak-leaf basket-fern

Rhizome c. 2 cm or more thick, having a persistently woolly appearance. Scales 2–25 mm long, 0.7–2.5 mm wide, soft, ginger-coloured to dark brown, tapering gradually from the base to the narrow acute apex; margins paler, bearing fine hair-like teeth. Fronds strongly dimorphic with distinct nest fronds and fertile fronds. Nest fronds simple, ±ovate, 5.5–40 cm long, 9–25.5 cm wide, shallowly to ±deeply lobed; lobes rounded. Fertile fronds pinnatifid from 28 cm to over 1 m long; stipes (0–) 1–7.5 cm long, winged almost to the base. Lamina deeply pinnatifid, coriaceous, pale to mid-green in life; lobes strap-like, narrowed slightly towards the base, tapering to an acute or obtuse apex, 1.5–32 cm long, 1.1–4.9 cm wide. Sori round, 1–2 mm diam., in 2 ±regular rows between adjacent main lateral veins of fertile fronds, not or only slightly impressed into the laminal surface. Spores 37.5–55 µm long, 22.5–37.5 µm wide.

Cape York QLD and Arnhem Land NT. Also Asia, Malesia and Pacific Islands.

Lithophytic, epiphytic or terrestrial in tropical vine forest, usually in beach scrubs, in bouldery areas or on rock faces along creeks.

A large mass-forming basket-fern with specialised leaves for catching falling debris. This species may form a large clump when growing in a tree but is often creeping when growing on rocks or on the ground.

Readily cultivated in a hanging container, on a tree or in a rockery in a tropical garden. This species tends to become too large for a fernery.

Drynaria rigidula and Drynaria sparsisora.

1a. Pinnae borne on a short stalk, pinna margins shallowly incised between each pair of lateral veins = Drynaria rigidula

1b. Pinnae decurrent, pinna margins entire = 2

2a. Sori in 2 regular rows between lateral veins, rhizome scales soft, spreading and persistent = Drynaria quercifolia

2b. Sori scattered between lateral veins, rhizome scales stiff, adpressed, not persistent = Drynaria sparsisora