Cheilanthes quadripinnata (Forsk.) Kuhn

quadripinnata: 4-pinnate, the fronds are divided four times.

Rhizome short, creeping, 6-7 mm in diameter; rhizome scales narrowly lanceolate, apex slowly tapering to a point, margin (sub)entire, up to 6 mm long. Fronds tufted, erect to arching, coracious. Stipe castaneous to blackish, shining, up to 40 cm long, about 1.2 times the length of the lamina, shallowly grooved in the upper part, hairless at maturity but set with long, reddish brown hairlike, narrow scales at the base. Lamina 20-60 cm × 20-40 cm, triangular in outline, 4-pinnatifid to 5-pinnate on the basal pinnae; lower pinnae ascending, deltate, basiscopically developed, with triangular, pinnatifid apex, uppermost pinnae pinnatifid. Ultimate segments oblong, rounded to pointed, venation free, obscure above except for midrib, both surfaces hairless, lobed and broader when sterile, narrow and (sub)entire when fertile. Rhachis and secondary rhachis castaneous, grooved, hairless. Sori linear, marginal, continuous except for the extreme apices and sinuses; indusium continuous, entire to erose, membranous.

Common

Southern Africa to central and tropical Africa, also known from Madagascar, Mauritius and the Comoro islands.