Trichomanes giganteum Willd.
Trichomanes radicans var. giganteum Bory ex Willd.) Mett.
Vandenboschia radicans Auct. non (Sw.) Copel.

Rhizome creeping and up to 2 m long, 1–5 mm in diameter, with abundant rootlets and with dense dark articulate hairs to 3 mm long. Fronds spaced 2–10 cm apart. Stipe erect, 3–17 cm long, terete, winged throughout or only near the lamina, glabrous or with sparse hairs. Lamina dark green, broadly ovate to ovate in outline, 15–50 x 9–20 cm, 4(–5)-pinnatifid. Pinnae alternate, up to 22 on each side of the rhachis, petiolulate, falcate, to 14 x 4 cm; pinnules up to 15 pairs, to 3.5 x 2 cm, ultimate segments linear, to 1 mm wide, apex rounded. Rhachis winged or not winged, with sparse hairs; costae and costules winged, with occasional minute brown scales. Sori 1–4 per pinnule, sub-axillary; involucre urn to narrowly bell shaped, stalked to immersed, 1.5–2 mm long, to 0.5 mm in diameter, mouth truncate or dilated, very slightly bilabiate (two-lipped); receptacle exserted for up to 6 mm.

Moist forest, usually near stream, once in riverine forest near waterfall.

Africa, Comoro Isl., Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, São Tomé.

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania , Uganda.

Epiphytic, lithophytic, terrestrial.