• Family : DRYOPTERIDACEAE
  (WOOD FERN FAMILY)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : DRYOPTERIDACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Polystichum subinerme Fraser-Jenk.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Unresolved Name
• Habit : Herb-Terrestrial
• Comments / notes : Rare
• Key identification features : Rhizome erect or suberect, upto 6 cm thick, densely covered by lanceolate scales all over. Stipes tufted, dark brown, more or less tetragonal with a shallow groove above, deep groove on lateral sides, densely scaly below, sparsely above. Lamina bipinnate with simply pinnate apex, deltoid; pinnae about 10 pairs, spreading, subopposite, shortly stalked, slightly narrowed at base; pinnules upto 15 pairs in the largest basal pinnae, spreading, alternate, shortly stalked, margin crenate in the distal part; costa flattened above and below, veins slightly distinct below, not reaching the margin; costules and veins bear long, soft, septate hairs blow; upper surface of pinnules and lower intervenal area glabrous; pinnae dark green; texture thick coriaceous. Sori median on the veinlets, indusiate; indusia dark brown.
• Collector(s) Name : C. J. Saldanha; PK Rajagopal
• Collection Nos : CS 5007; PKR 356
• Collection Locality : Kodaikanal
• Distribution :
  • Tamil Nadu : Kodaikanal (Dindigul district)
• Native : India
• Endemism : South India
• Conservation Status : At Risk
• Literature : Fraser-Jenkins, Taxonomic revision of Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes 2008
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Polystichum kunthianum. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)