Synonym: Davallia platyphylla. Microlepia grandissima.
Clades:
Dennstaedtiaceae.
Region: south east Asia, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
Habitat: terrestrial; requires consistently moist soil; prefres partial to full shade; forests; 1000-2100 m.
BotanyFern; evergreen; photoautotroph; ± 100 to 200 cm tall, ± 150 cm wide.
Root: rhizome; creeping; 15-20 mm in diameter; stiff and woody; with dense, dark red-brown, subulate bristles.
Stem: stipe light brown to straw-colored; shiny; 70-100 cm tal, ± 1 cm in diameter; woody, hairy only at base.
Leaves: blue-green; bipinnate; veins anadromous, parallel to free; rachis similar, glabrous; lamina yellow-green when dried, bipinnate, broadly triangular in outline, 100 to 140 cm long and wide, nearly leathery, both surfaces glabrous except for dense, short, light brown hairs on rachillae; pinnae ca. 8 pairs, alternate, 15-20 cm apart, spreading obliquely upward, stalk 20 to 40 mm, basal pair largest, 1-pinnate, triangular in outline, 45-60 cm, apex acuminate; pinnules 6 or 7 pairs, alternate, anadromous, ca. 5 cm apart, spreading obliquely upward, lanceolate, subfalcate, 10 to 15 by ± 3 cm at base, base unequally cuneate, acroscopically obliquely truncate above, with rounded auriculate prominence, margin rounded lobed to pinnatifid, becoming rounded lobed and serrulate, narrowly cartilaginous, apex long acuminate and with rounded notch; pinnules progressively shorter distally, connate at base, decurrent, merging into pinnatifid and acuminate terminal segment; veins abaxially coarse and distinct, adaxially obscure, pinnate in lobules, 4 or 5 pairs, not furcate, very oblique, not reaching margin. Sori 2-5 per lobule, orbicular and large; indusium brown, orbicular-reniform, large, membranous, entire, basifixed, glabrous, persistent.