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Polyphlebium venosum, the veined bristle-fern or bristle filmy fern, is a fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. It is only found in wet forests, mainly growing as an epiphyte on the shady side of the soft tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica. It also grows on logs, trunks of trees and rarely on trunks of Cyathea species or on wet rock-faces. It is found in the wetter parts of Eastern Australia and New Zealand. P. venosum has poor long-distance dispersal compared to other ferns due to its short lived spore. Notable features of Polyphlebium venosum include it being one cell layer thick, 5–15 cm in length, having many branching veins and a trumpet shaped indusium.
Due to Polyphlebium venosum being only one cell layer thick, it is heavily prone to desiccation in hot or dry environments. This is one of the main reasons that it grows as a mat on the shaded side of Dicksonia antarctica.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Polyphlebium venosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
