Thelypteris confluens (Thunb.) C. V. Morton

confluens: converging, running together; may be a reference to the intertwined rhizomes that give rise to extented, densely clustered stands.

Rhizome long, creeping and branching, 2-3 mm in diameter; rhizome scales up to 2 mm long, dark brown, ovate, nonpersistent. Fronds spaced 1-5 cm apart, erect or arching, not proliferous, herbaceous. Stipe up to 40 cm long, pale brown, often blackened towards the base, subglabrous. Lamina up to 60 × 15 cm, lanceolate to elliptic in outline, deeply 2-pinnatifid, apex tapering to a point with a pinnatifid terminal segment, lower pinnae slightly reduced and widely spaced. Pinnae linear to oblong-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid into oblong and rounded to triangular and acute ultimate lobes, margins entire; under surface of costae with or without hairs and with pale brown ovate scales, upper surface hairless; veins not meeting the veins of the adjacent lobes. Rhachis pale brown, hairless. Sori up to 18 per lobe, round, situated halfway between the costa and the margin; indusia kidney-shaped, membranous, hairless or with short marginal hairs.

Widespread in southern Africa, central and E. tropical Africa, Madagascar, southern India, Thailand, Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand.