Lindsaea cultrata sensu Cordem.
Lindsaea cultrata auct., non (Willd.) Sw.

Rhizome creeping, thin, 1-2 mm in diameter; rhizome scales lanceolate in outline, shiny brown, with long drawn out point, up to 2 mm long. Fronds spaced 2-9 mm apart, erect, herbaceous, glabrous. Stipe dark brown, shiny, up to 5 cm long, grooved, glabrous except for some scales near the base. Lamina narrowly lanceolate-elliptic in outline, up to 20 × 3 cm, pinnate, lower pinnae reduced. Pinnae rhombic, petiolate, lower margin entire, upper margin lobed. Rhachis brown, grooved above, glabrous. Sori (sub)marginal, oblong, on pinna lobes; indusia oblong, opening outwards, covering the entire sorus up to the edge of the lobes.

May be confused with Adiantum incisum which has proliferous fronds, minute hairs on the pinnae, an erect rhizome. Adiantum incisum does not smell of almonds.

odorata: odorous, fragrant; the fresh fronds have a strong almond smell when crushed.

Riverine forest, moss-covered boulders in or along mountain streams and rivers, in areas where it is periodically submerged during floods in summer, exposed or lightly shaded.

Paleotropic distribution, mainly in tropical Azia, also Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, Zimbabwe.

Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

Terrestrial.