English: Bat's wing fern; Water fern; Fern mata.
Synonyms: Phegopteris incisa; Litobrochia incisa; Pteris incisa; Histiopteris vespertilionis; Pteris brunoniana; Litobrochia vespertilionis.
Region: Australia, New Zealand, south Pacific islands.
Habitat: moist areas; widely distributed; prefers lowland; prefers high rainfall; disturbed sites; margins of wet forest; poorly drained soils; in shaded areas; open scrubby creeks and gullies; at the base of cliffs; requires little sunlight.
Use: ornamental.
BotanyFern; medium-sized; weedy, opportunistic; forming large colonies.
Leaves: 60 to 200 cm, up to 7m long; widely spaced; distinct; slightly dimorphic; fertile lobes slightly narrower than the infertile lobes; thick and whitish blue-green succulent stipe when young; thin, long with red-brown stipes when mature; pinnae are pale greyish-green, almost glaucous, paired, opposite, set at a wide angle, very lobed; two lowermost lobes of each pinnae result in a bat's wing appearance.
Root: robust, creeping, rhizome; 5 to 10 mm wide; covered in brown or reddish scales
Sori: continuous; linear; exindusiate, without an indusium; protected by reflexed leaf margins.