Soft fern (Christella dentata)

Soft fern (Christella dentata) is a species of plant in the Thelypteridaceae, small ferns growing on the edge of rainforests, rivers or more open forests with adequate humidity, circular-shaped sori covered with hairs, a widespread cosmopolitan.

C. dentata grows in the soil, often in moist rocky areas, along river banks and in sedimentary forest remnants. The rhizome spreads on the rock surface and the roots enter the rock crevices. The branching of the petiole is very close to the ground and the stem is difficult to see clearly. True roots dark in color and fibers that branch dichotomous. The tip of the root has caliptra.

True stems grow above the soil surface with lateral branching and not branching. The surface of the stem has a very dense ramenta and forms a dense layer. Stems runny when young and woody when old. The stele ranges from protostele to dictiostele and the transport bundle is composed of amphicibral concentric structures.

Compound leaves, lanceolate, green, fertile and sterile, have fronds, size 40-80 cm and soft with fine hairs on the surface. Green leaves with indented edges. Each groove has 4-5 pairs of spores lined up along the edges at the underside of the leaves, neatly arranged and lined up between sorus to form a collection of sori.

Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Subclass: Polypodiidae
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Aspleniinae
Family: Thelypteridaceae
Subfamily: Thelypteridoideae
Genus: Christella
Species: Christella dentata

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