Dicranopteris
1 species native AUST.; Qld., N.S.W.,A.W., N.T.
Dicranopteris linearis linearis
Terrestrial ferns often of straggling habit, forming dense thickets. Rhizome long-creeping, cylindrical, often ± glaucous, 1.5–3 mm diam., glabrescent, clothed at first with rather stiff, sharply acuminate, septate hairs which have several short branches at the base. Stipes up to 30 cm or more long, 1–3 mm broad near the middle, widely spaced on the rhizome, rigid, glossy, smooth. Fronds light to yellowish green above, very glaucous on the lower surface, glabrous or with a few reddish stellate hairs. Accessory pinnae at each forking of the rhachis except at the ultimate forks. Ultimate segments sessile, 25–60 pairs, entire, obtuse or bifid, linear to very narrowly oblong or the smaller segments narrowly oblong. Sori 0.8–1 mm diam. 8–17 pairs on each segment, in a single subcostular or sometimes medial row. Spores tetrahedral, white, not reticulate. Plants 0.3–2m high. Coast and adjacent plateaus north of Royal National Park. Rare. Banks of streams at the edge of RF; railway cuttings; open forests on the banks of roads or in clefts of sandstone cliffs