Microsorum punctatum (L.) Copel.

punctatum: dotted or marked with spots, referring to the minute sori which are irregularly distributed over the underside of the fertile fronds.

Rhizome shortly creeping, thick, c. 8 mm in diameter, embedded in a thick felt of roots; rhizome scales black, peltate, lanceolate, entire, acuminate, up to 4 mm long. Fronds closely spaced, apparently tufted, rigid, glabrous, coriaceous. Stipe short to absent. Lamina very narrowly elliptic-oblong, simple, margins entire to irregularly wavy, apex rounded to tapering to a point, gradually decrescent to a broadly or narrowly winged base, midrib raised on both sides; venation obscure, anastomising with included veinlets. Sori circular, minute, ± 1 mm in diameter, distributed irregularly on the undersurface of the fronds.

From eastern South Africa into Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe, widely distributed in tropical Africa. Also Madagascar, Comoro and Mascarene islands, Seychelles, southern Asia, Australia, through the Pacific region to Tahiti and United States.