silvery glade fern

Silvery spleenwort has pinnately divided yellowish green leaves arising from a stout, green, slightly brown hairy and scaly stem. The stem is typically grooved on the upper side, much shorter than the leaf blade and darker colored near its base, being dark red or brown; as the stem reaches the leaflets it becomes a pale green color. The leaves are broadest in the middle with a long pointed tip and tapering base, with the lowest pair of leaflets generally pointing downward. The tapering and downward pointed bottom leaves are a diagnostic characteristic for helping to distinguish this fern from similar ferns. The leaves are 30–80 cm (12–31 in) long and 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 in) wide; their underside is covered in fuzzy yellow-green hairs. There are approximately 18 leaflets on a leaf, which are approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long and 1 cm (0.39 in) wide and relatively straight. The leaflets are themselves cut into oblong sub-leaflets which may have a blunt or rounded tip. The sterile and fertile leaflets are similar in form. The fertile leaves bear sori on the underside of the leaves and are silvery green at first but later become light brown as they ripen. The sori are pinnately arranged on the subleafets in a pattern which follows the veination; they are typically straight or slightly curved with a thick indusia with an entire margin. …