Greek blechnon - a Greek name for a fern

Terrestrial or occasionally epiphytic ferns. Rhizomes erect, sometimes short to long-creeping and occasionally forming a short, scaly trunk. Fertile and sterile fronds generally different. Blades simple, divided once (more times in some cultivars) or lobed and generally leathery. Sterile frond with segment margins usually smooth and linear, sometimes finely toothed. Fertile fronds mostly with a reduced, narrowed blade. Sori in pairs, linear and continuous on either side of the main veins; indusium a continuous flap along the sorus, opening towards the midvein.

c. 220 species, cosmopolitan, but mostly Southern Hemisphere (18 species in Australia).

Spores; creeping species by division.

Fronds generally divided once; sori with indusia continuous alongside midvein and opening towards it; veins of sterile fronds free.

Joe (1960).

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Blechnaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.