Ribbon fern

Pteris lanceolata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1073. 1753 Paltonium lanceolatum (Linnaeus) C. Presl

Roots brown, in dense mass often covering stems. Stem scales black to dark brown, triangular-acuminate to lanceolate-acuminate, clathrate, papillate-ciliolate. Leaves erect-arching, 1--4.5 dm. Petiole less than 3.5 cm. Blade 20 × 1.3 cm, leathery; base narrowly cuneate to attenuate; apex acute to rounded. Sori to 6 cm, ending ca. 0.5 cm below apex of blade. 2 n = 74.

Epiphytic in hammocks and mangrove swamps; substrate subacidic to circumneutral; 0 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America.