Notholaena leachii Schelpe

Rhizome shortly creeping to erect, up to 4 mm in diameter; rhizome scales linear-lanceolate in outline, c. 5 mm long, (yellow-)brown often with a dark central stripe. Fronds monomorphic, tufted, suberect, up to 31 cm long, proliferous at the apex, occasionally on costae of basal pinnae. Stipe up to 23 cm long, dark brown to almost black when mature, more or less with thin, brown, hairlike scales when young, later hairless. Lamina 2-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate, sometimes 3-pinnatifid on the lower basiscopically developed pinnae, oblong-ovate to lanceolate in outline, 3-11 × 1.8-5.5 cm; pinnae in 3-6 pairs, ovate or triangular in outline, somewhat widely spaced, 0.7-5 x 0.7-4 cm, both surfaces set with scattered, long, rusty-coloured hairs; venation obscure; rhachis as for stipe. Sori small, marginal; indusium pale brown, membranous, continuous and very narrow, entire or erose, inconspicuous.

May be mistaken for C. inaequalis which is non-proliferous.

leachii: named after L.C. Leach of the National Herbarium in Zimbabwe. He accompanied Prof. Schelpe in 1962 on an expedition to nothern Mozambique, where the type specimen was collected.

Rock crevices and boulder bases, among grasses and sedges near streams, at vegetation islands on granite whalebacks.

See African distribution.

Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania , Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Lithophytic, terrestrial.