Maidenhair Spleenwort

trichomanes: a growth of hair, it was believed that this fern was a hair restorer.
quadrivalens: quad- = four; valens = strong, stout, powerful.

Rhizome erect; scales dark brown, lanceolate, up to 4 mm long, margins minutely serrulate. Fronds tufted, not proliferous. Stipe up to 9 cm, glabrous, dark-brown to almost black, shiny. Lamina 6-23 cm × 1-1.5 cm, pinnate, oblong-linear in outline. Pinnae obovate to oblong-circular, up to 32 pairs, margins entire to subentire, glabrous above, a few minute scales below. Rhachis dark-brown to blackish, glabrous. Sori 3 or 4 pairs per pinna at 30-45° to the costa, linear or elongate; indusium entire.

Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe. Also North Africa, Macaronesia, Britain, North America