Aleuritopteris farinosa (Forsk.) Fée

farinosa: mealy, referring to the powdery substance on the undersurface of the leaves.

Rhizome short, erect, up to 10 mm in diameter, rhizome scales dark-brown, entire, up to 7 mm in length, margins pale. Fronds tufted, erect, arching, herbaceous or thinly coriaceous, up to 40 cm long. Stipe black to castaneous, shiny, with scattered brown scales up to 7 mm long. Lamina lanceolate to narrowly ovate in outline, up to 390 × 180 mm, 2 to 3-pinnatifid; pinnae glabrous, dark matt green above, covered with a white or sometimes pale, yellow powder beneath. Lower pinnae larger than the ones above and more or less basiscopically developed; upper pinnae oblong, decurrent; ultimate lobes oblong, rounded, minutely toothed. Rhachis, costae, costules shiny black and glabrous. Sori small, marginal, in discrete or continuous clusters; indusium small, semi-transparent, variously lacerate.

From China through much of Asia to North Africa going southwards to angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.