Blechnum fluviatile
(R.Br.) E.J.Lowe ex Saloman Ray Water-fernRhizome erect and stout, occasionally giving rise to horizontal stolons. Fronds tufted, sterile and fertile fronds dissimilar; sterile fronds 20–75 cm long, soft, forming low rosette; fertile fronds erect. Stipe short, brown, with numerous brown, shiny, narrowly pointed scales. Sterile frond lamina linear, once pinnate, dull mid-green; rachis with many coarse, linear, brown, shiny scales and numerous very small hairs; pinnae short, oval to oblong, mostly sessile but the lowermost shortly stalked or narrowed at base, margins shallowly crenulate, tips rounded. Fertile fronds with pinnae short, linear-oblong, almost parallel to rachis. Sori covering underside of lamina on each side of midvein.
VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, Gold, CVU, NIS, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Also NSW, Tas., New Zealand. Grows in high rainfall areas of the State, in mountain gullies, beside streams or on shaded road embankments where frequently abundant, often ascending to subalps.
Entwisle, T.J. (1994). Ferns and allied plants (Psilophyta, Lycopodiophyta, Polypodiophyta). In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 13–111. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
