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Plants form huge, light green rosettes of up to 1.5 m high under favourable conditions. Young fronds are covered in a hairy felt as they emerge, but become hairless at maturity. The bipinnate (doubly divided) fronds are lanceolate (lance-shaped and tapering towards the tip), rather leathery and can be quite large. The elongated, blunt-tipped pinnules (leaflets) have serrated edges and turn from red to green as they mature. The erect, fertile fronds in the centre of the plant project above the outer spreading, sterile fronds. Plants have a massive creeping rhizome (root system) and the rootstock can protrude several centimetres above the ground like a short trunk covered with leaf sheaths and roots. MG.
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