English: Curlygrass fern; Comb fern.
Genus: ± 24 species.
Region: tropical Old and New World, Eastern USA, Chile, Falkland Islands, Pacific islands, New Caledonia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South Africa.
BotanyIdentification: distinctive, not at all like the common fern.
Fern; small, inconspicuous.
Leaves: barren fronds, trophophylls; grass-like; spore-bearing fertile frond, sporophyll, is similar, but with a small, pinnate fertile segment at its apex; upper surface of the pinnules bear the sessile capsules.