Pteris umbrosa
R.Br. Jungle BrakeRhizome short and stout, horizontal to erect, covered with brown scales. Fronds close together, erect but arching over, 100–250 cm long. Stipe more than half the length of frond, relatively narrow, brown to straw-coloured, deeply grooved. Lamina irregularly 2-pinnate with pinnae well separated, only lowermost primary pinnae divided again and shortly stalked; rachis pale, winged for most of length. Pinnae near top of frond and segments of lower pinnae more than 15 cm long, 4–15 mm wide (leaf segments slightly narrower in fertile fronds), ribbon-like, apices tapering, bases long decurrent, uppermost edges at points of attachment cut to rachis; veins close together, simple or forked, ending in finely serrate margins. Sori continuous along margins of each leaf segment, except for tip, and down decurrent base.
GipP, EGL, EGU, HSF, HFE. Also Qld, NSW.
Naturally confined to rainforests of East Gippsland, where it may be locally abundant.
The large fronds and ribbon-like leaf segments with long decurrent bases make this a distinctive fern in Victoria. It is sometimes cultivated and plants occasionally appear, from spores of cultivated plants, near settlements (e.g. Dandenong Ranges, Frankston, South Gippsland),
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
