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Quelho

Woody-stemmed Fern

Question

Found this fern climbing up some rocks down the rain forest end of the Royal National Park near Sydney. It is unusual by having a woody textured 'stem' both in appearance and touch. So far I have been unable to ID it, actually I've never seen a stem like this on any type of fern before... Anyway, a friend assures me it is common and has seen it plenty before so hopefully someone out there knows what it is.

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Edited by Quelho

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pteridium esculentum or bracken fern.

 

I tend to think that it is not Pteridium. Pteridium, which I have become quiet familiar with searching for ferns, does not have a woody stem like this and its rhizome does not resemble the 'woody stem' of the one pictured. The foliage is also very different to Pteridium, however the pictures aren't that great for detail in that regard. I didn't get any pics of the sporangia either because I thought the defining feature was the stem.

I think the defining feature is the woody stem (might be an exposed rhizome... can't say it isn't)as I have never seen any other fern with anything resembling it, either out in the field or in any of the field guides I use.

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It looks like a hare's foot fern Davallia sp.

dont ask me which one though.

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Davallia pyxidata....

hmmmm pixie data....

 

Looks spot on, Thanks =)

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