Acrostichum danaeifolium

Acrostichum danaeifolium (Fee) C. Presl

Common Names: Giant Leather Fern

Family: Pteridaceae

Habit: Acrostichum danaeifolium grows with a basal rosette of fronds up to 4 meters in length (typically less than 2 meters). There are both sterile and fertile fronds. The sterile frond is pinnately compound with pinnae to 60 cm in length and opposite or subopposite in position. The pinnae are lanceolate, with an acute pinnae apex, an entire (repand margin) and oblique base.

The fertile fronds similar in shape and size as sterile fronds but more erect. All pinnae have sporangia. The sporangia cover the entire abaxial surface of the pinnae.

Habitat: Acrostichum danaeifolium grows along the edges of brackish and fresh water ponds, sinkholes and in marshes that have standing water for a majority of the year.

Distribution: Acrostichum danaeifolium occurs in the central and northern island groupings of the Lucayan Archipelago, Florida, the entire Caribbean region and Mexico south to Central and South America.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Acrostichum danaeifolium is not used medicinally in the Bahamas.