Botanical name

Blechnum capense

Family

Blechnaceae

Common Name

Cape Deer Fern

Synonym (old name)

Blechnum sylvaticum
Blechnum capense

Description

Rhizome shortly creeping up to 20mm in diameter. Fronds closely packed; stipe up to 55cm long; sterile lamina up to 60cm, texture thin; pinnae oblong-lanceolate, margins serrulate to crenate, bases of pinnae broadly cuneate to truncate, assymetrical, short-stalked; sori linear extending along almost whole length of pinnae.

The combination of crenate-serrate margins and the subsessile pinna attachment (short-stalk) clearly separates Blechnum capense from the other species of Blechnum in Fernkloof.

Latin: capense = Cape of Good hope, the early name for the southern tip of Africa where this plant was first collected.

Habitat

Shaded earth banks and near streams in deep or light shade