Asplenium schelpei Braithwaite

Schelpei: named after E.A.C.L.E. Schelpe

Rhizome short, creeping; scales reddish brown, clathrate, lineair, up to 7 mm long. Fronds closely spaced, tufted, coriaceous. Stipe 8-15 cm long, scaly, dark brown, green on upper surface towards lamina. Lamina 9-20(30) cm × 4-9 cm, bipinnate, oblong-lanceolate in outline, 7-15 pairs of pinnae, basal pinnae not or very slightly reduced. Pinnae glabrous, elongate-trapeziform, 1-5 pinnules below the apex. Pinnules rounded, cuneate to spathulate, shiny dark green above, matt paler green below; margins irregular, shallowly dentate at slightly lobed apices. Sori 5-12 mm long, linear, almost totally covering the undersurface of the pinnules when mature; indusium entire.

Zimbabwe and South Africa