''Leptopteris fraseri'', commonly known as the crepe fern, is a species of plant occurring in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Its habitat is wet places, mostly on the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. It is found in caves, near

waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several w ...

, in dark shady places in the cooler

rainforests Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

Description

A fern with a trunk to one metre high, with one or more crowns. The arching fronds may be one metre long, on a stipe between 20 and . The stem may be

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

. Small reddish-brown hairs may also be seen. Fronds are relatively thin, between and wide. Mature

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cyc ...

are found under the fronds in irregular patterns, brownish-orange in colour.

References

External links

* Osmundales Ferns of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland {{Polypodiidae-stub