Japanese name: シシラン（獅子蘭） Scientific name:Haplopteris flexuosa
[Overview]
An evergreen fern found in damp places in valleys and forests in the mountains of warm regions.
It grows on rocks and tree trunks, often in colonies.
A short rhizome creeps along, bearing linear, brown to dark brown scales, and produces many roots.
Many leaves emerge and hang down; they are usually linear, 15–45 cm long and 0.4–0.8 cm wide, leathery, dark green on the upper surface, with a sunken midrib.
The leaf margins are entire.
The leaf base gradually narrows and continues into the leaf stalk.
The leaf stalk is winged.
When dry, the leaf margins roll under.
The sporangia clusters are borne in the grooves along both margins on the underside of the leaf and are enclosed by the rolled-under leaf margins.
[Cultivation]
It prefers partial shade and a well-ventilated place.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to compare the dense leaves of a large clump to a lion's mane.
