Elaphoglossum deckenii (Kuhn) C. Chr.

deckenii: this fern was first collected in Tanzania by Baron Carl von Decken (1833-1865), a German explorer.

Rhizome short creeping, up to 2.5 mm in diameter; rhizome scales 3-4 mm long, dark brown to black, shining, lanceolate, ciliate. Fronds clustered, erect or arching, firmly herbaceous, dimorphous. Sterile frond: stipe up to 20 cm long, straw-coloured, grooved, densely set with lanceolate, pale brown, ciliate scales; lamina up to 12-40 × 2.5-5 mm, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate in outline, apex tapering to a point, base wedge-shaped, margin entire, thinly set with ovate, pale brown, ciliate scales on both surfaces. Fertile frond: stipe c. 16 cm long, covered with scales similar to the sterile frond; lamina up to 10-21 × 1-2 cm, linear-lanceolate in outline with the two sides conspicuously reflexed backwards, set with ciliate scales similar to those on the sterile frond on the upper surface and along the midrib below; sori covering the whole undersurface of the lamina.

Rare

DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Comoro islands and Réunion.