Lindsaea repens

Lindsaeaceae

Lindsaea repens (Bory) Thwaites

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/113760

Climbing Lindsaea

Rhizome high-climbing, 1.5–3 mm diam.; stele strongly dorsiventral; scales to 5 mm long, persistent, later deciduous and exposing a ±dull rhizome. Fronds monomorphic. Stipes distant, 1–5 cm long, much shorter than lamina, stramineous to pale-brown, darker towards base. Lamina 1-pinnate, linear, to 70 cm long and 3 mm wide, gradually and strongly reduced towards base. Pinnules broadly asymmetrically flabellate, sessile to shortly stalked, 15–30 mm long, herbaceous, closely spaced, gradually reduced and becoming contiguous or pinnatifid towards apex; outer margin shallowly incised; veins free, 1–2 times forked. Juvenile lamina with deeply lobed pinnae. Sori broken by marginal incisions. Spores trilete, pale greenish or pale brown, smooth. 

Localised at a few ever-wet sites between Iron Range and Fraser Island QLD. Also widespread in the Palaeotropics.

Terrestrial, lithophytic or hemi-epiphytic climber. Growing in riparian or wetland rainforest.

A species comprised of multiple varieties sensu Kramer K.U. & McCarthy P.M. (1998) Lindsaeaceae in Flora of Australia Vol. 48 pp. 228-240.

Difficult to propagate and establish.

The climbing hemi-epiphytic habit distinguishes this species from all other Australian Lindsaea.