92 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
92. Stenochlaena tenuifolia (Desv.) Moore. 
(85. Part of barren frond. Nat. size. 
(86. Part of fertile frond. Nat. size. 
Rhizome many yards long, one-quarter inch diameter, 
woody. Sometimes branched, procumbent on the surface, 
or scandent, green, with scattered, lanceolate, dark scales 
two lines long. Fronds distant ; the barren pinnate ; the 
fertile irregularly two-pinnate. Barren frond pinnate, coria- 
ceous, glabrous, glossy green, ovate-lanceolate, three to four 
feet long, one to one and a half feet broad, with a stipe one 
to two feet long, and about twenty pairs of alternate, lanceo- 
late acuminate, shortly stalked, undulated pinnae, which are 
sharply serrate along the cartilaginous margin, six to twelve 
inches long, and one inch broad, with a conspicuous mid-rib ; 
and close, visible, parallel, free veinlets. Fertile frond two- 
pinnate, three to four feet long, one foot broad, with a one 
to two feet stipe, and stout rachis; the pinnae one and a half 
inches apart, stalked, rather flaccid, four to six inches long, 
two to three inches broad, with numerous distinct, linear, 
very irregular, more or less pointed pinnules one-half to two 
inches long, one line broad, covered along the under surface 
with sori, and after maturity all twisted into a confused mass. 
The rachis of the pinnae is sometimes also fertile in part, 
and occasionally fertile fronds occur (on the same plants 
as ordinary fertile fronds) in which the fertile pinnae are six 
to eight inches long, one line broad, and without pinnules, or 
with only an occasional one. Wood remarks — “Its rhizomes 
sometimes almost encircle the trees upon which it grows, and 
its fronds are often produced at twenty to thirty feet from the 
ground ; the fertile fronds to be found only about January or 
February.” The young rhizomes are sometimes several yards 
long before fronds are produced. 
Stenochlaena tenuifolia (Desv.). Moore, Gard. Chron. 1856. 
Acrostichum ( Stenochlaena ) tenuifolium. Baker, Syn. Fil. 412; Sim, 
Ferns of S. Afr 1st ed., 224. 
Lomaria tenuifolia. Desv. 
Acrostichum Meyerianum. Hk. Sp. 5, 250. 
