Asplenium australasicum (J.Sm.) Hook.

Bird's Nest Fern

Rhizome thick, erect with rosette of flat fronds; scales brown and fringed. Fronds undivided, to 1 m long, 20 cm or so wide with a distinct bend about 5 cm from the abruptly tapered base, pale green, leathery with an intramarginal vein; midrib raised and with a distinct ridge below. Sori numerous, c. 1 mm wide, 4-6 cm long.

Will tolerate cool conditions.

Qld, NSW, Lord Howe I., Pacific Is.

Fronds bent at the base, the midrib with a distinctly pointed ridge below, not rounded as in A. nidus.

 

Asplenium harmanii D. Jones from NSW and Qld is occasionally cultivated: it differs in having erect fronds with a wavy midrib below and the blade with a much longer taper at the base.

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Aspleniaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Polypodiopsida
order     Polypodiales
family      Aspleniaceae
genus       Asplenium L.