Blechnum australe L. ssp. australe

australe: southern, of the south (botanists thought this fern to be limited to the southern areas of Africa)

Rhizome thin, creeping widely, ending in a thickened, erect portion; scales dark brown, ovate-acuminate, up to 7 mm long, margins entire. Fronds tufted, dimorphic. Stipe 7-15 cm long, pale brown and glabrous at maturity. Sterile lamina 28-56 cm × 3.5-13 cm, pinnate with reduced basal pinnae and narrowly elliptic in outline; pinnae lanceolate, joined to the rhachis at least basally, glabrous or thinly grandular with entire margins and a mucronate apex. Fertile lamina usually longer than the sterile lamina; pinnae linear, with the bases remaining lobed, basal pinnae often not fertile. Sori linear, limited to the middle part of the fertile lamina; indusium continuous.

From Kenya and Tanzania southwards to Namibia and S Africa; also Madagascar, Tristan da Cuñha, Gough and Ascension Islands.