Commemorating the German botanist Baron F. W. von Gleichen (1717-1783).

Terrestrial fern with distinctive branching pattern and minute round frond segments, occasionally cultivated, mostly beside water. Rhizome erect or creeping, dividing equally into two at each branch, covered with brown, fringed scales, at least when young. Fronds leathery, well spaced on rhizome. Ultimate segments round and extremely small, flat or pouchlike. Sori 1 per segment. Indusia absent.

10 species of the tropics and warm southern regions (6 species in Australia).

Minute frond segments and branching by dividing into 2 at each fork.

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Gleicheniaceae. 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.