| Asplenium erectum Bory ex Willd. |
| Syn: Asplenium erectum Bory ex willd. var. usambarense (Hieron) |
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| Photos: Petra Ballings, Vumba and Ballings 40, 23-07-2000, Bunga forest Vumba, private collection |
| A delicate fern that has an erect rhizome with tuffed fronds. The variable lamina (170-400 x 25-50) is narrowly elliptic in outline, pinnate to 2-pinnatifid with decrescent basal pinnae. Fronds are not proliferous and have a green, grey or mid-brown stipe & rachis. The pinnae margins are irregularly crenate, incised less than 1/2 way to the midrib; midrib forming the lower margin of the pinnae for some distance. A pinnae carries 6-15 linear to oval sori, indusiate. |
| Ecology: A terrestrial or lithophytic fern growing in deep shade on forest floor of evergreen forest, 1000-1700m |
| Derivation of the specific name: erectum : upright, although the larger fronds are often arching |
| Distribution in southern Africa: Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland |
Copyright: Petra Ballings, 2006