Description
Hares / Rabbit foot fern (Davallia pyxidata)
The Hare’s foot fern (Davallia pyxidata) is named after its brown rhizome, or stem, covered with brown papery scales, which may protrude from the clump, above the ground, for up to 50cm.
It tends to be an epiphyte, growing on rainforest trees, on rocks or on the ground. Makes a great basket plant.
Aboriginal people have traditionally boiled the roots and stems to treat hemorrhaging.
The Hare’s foot fern (Davillia pyxidata) is also characterized by the following:
Rhizome long-creeping, thick, fleshy, covered with brown, spreading, papery scales.
Fronds up to 1m long, deltoid, leathery, glossy, tripinnate or quadripinnate, the fertile fronds with much finer segments.
They are a common species found on rocks or trees in rainforest, or in protected areas in open forest.
The long rhizomes may protrude from the clump for up to 50cm.