Gleichenia polypodioides (L.) Sm.

polypodioides: resembling a Polypodium, a fern genus that also have the sori sunk into frond surface

Rhizome widely creeping, branched, 1-5 mm in diameter; scales dark brown, up to 1 mm long. Fronds spaced 2-20 cm apart, 30-90 cm long. Stipe up to 60 cm long, stiff, wiry, glabrous, shiny. Lamina dichotomously divided, circular in outline. Pinnules pinnatifid with small, 2-3 × 1.5-2 mm, triangular ultimate lobes, glabrous, joined to the costules. Sori embedded in the lobes at the apical side near the costa, creating a raised impression of the sori on the upper surface of the lobe.

Angola, Burundi, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe. Also Amsterdam Isl., Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion.