English: Basket ferns
Family:
Drynarioideae;
PolypodiaceaeRegion: Himalaya, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet; Southeast Asia, Myanmar, China.
Habitat: high-altitude forests, between 1,500 and 3,500 meters; on rocky slopes, tree trunks, mossy surfaces; cool, moist, and shaded environments.
Ecology: stabilizing rocky or mossy surfaces; provides microhabitats.
Use: ornamental, in alpine or tropical gardens, for its graceful, spreading habit and leathery, attractive fronds; medicinal or traditional.
BotanyFern; small to medium-sized; epiphytic or lithophytic fern; creeping .
Rhizome: creeping; long; slender; densely covered with brown, lanceolate scales.
Roots: fibrous;d arising from the rhizome.
Leaves: 15 to 50 cm long; pinnate; leathery; dark green;spreading or slightly arching appearance; leaflets are linear to lanceolate, entire margins or slightly wavy edges; rachis smooth, pale green to brownish; two types, fertile foliage fronds and sterile nest fronds; dark green, large, 60 to 120 cm long; with elongated stalks; deeply lobed or pinnate, winged.
Sori: on the underside of the fronds, arranged in two rows along the veins; round to oblong; lack an indusium.