Alsophila manniana (Hook.) R. M. Tryon

manniana: first collected by G. Mann, a German botanist

Tree fern. Caudex slender, 7 m × 10 cm, occasionally sending down lateral "prop" stems which are eventually creeping and may form a new upright caudex. Fronds firmly chartaceous. Stem covered with harsh spines; without aphlebia in the crown of the stem. Stipe spiny, 30 -50 cm long, light to dark brown, covered with glossy, brown, entire, lanceolate scales when young. Lamina up to 2.4 m × 1 m, 3-pinnatifid, ovate in outline. Pinnae up to 52 × 20 cm, oblong, acute, pinnate into narrowly shortly attenuate pinnate pinnules; ultimate segments narrowly oblong-falcate, apex acute to sharply obtuse, margins entire to minutely crenate; upper surface dark green, glabrous, with minute, brown hair-like scales along the costae, lower surface pale green, glabrous but with brown, ovate scales scattered along the costules and costae; rhachis shiny brown with scattered small prickles, glabrous at maturity. Sori up to 9 per pinnule segment, round, indusium unequally cup-shaped.

Local

Angola, Annobon, Bioko, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimba