Asplenium protensum Schrad.

protensum: extended, referring to the long, narrow fronds.

Rhizome up to 5 mm diameter, erect; scales brown with pale margings, narrowly ovate-triangular, up to 2 mm long. Fronds tufted, arching, herbaceous, proliferous towards the apex. Stipe up to 18 cm; stipe and rhachis are thinly pubescent and covered with few ovate brown scales. Lamina up to 95 cm × 12 cm, narrowly lanceolate in outline, 2-pinnatifid. Pinnae incised 2/3 of the way to the midrib, acroscopic basal lobe well developed, lanceolate, thinly pubescent above and below. Sori up to 5 mm long, linear, set at about 15 degrees to the midrib, indusium entire.

Angola, Bioko, Burundi, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Soa Tomé, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Madagascan region