Acrostichum danaeifolium Langsd. & Fisch.
Giant leather fern, leather fern, inland leather fern
The giant leather fern is a native of the central and southern peninsula of Florida, and Puerto Rico in the United States. It is also found in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America; possibly also in western Africa.
Plants: Plants are comprised of a set of fronds that emerge from a central location, producing an inverted cone shape that can reach 10′ (3 m) or more in height and width.
Leaves: Fronds can reach 6½–13′ (2–4 m) in length. Fertile fronds are brown underneath, due to the presence of sporangia; while infertle fronds are green. Leaves are pinnately compound, with pinnae up to 2′ (60 cm) long. Pinnae have rough, wavy edges. They are approximately opposite.
Habitats: Brackish and freshwater marshes.
Online References:
Acrostichum excelsum Maxon
4/11/2015 · Big Cypress Bend, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm) 
4/11/2015 · Big Cypress Bend, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida · ≈ 1 × 1½′ (31 × 47 cm) 
4/13/2015 · West Lake Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida 
4/13/2015 · West Lake Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida · ≈ 2½ × 1½′ (79 × 53 cm) 
4/12/2015 · Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, Florida · ≈ 2½ × 1½′ (79 × 53 cm) 
4/12/2015 · Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, Florida · ≈ 15 × 10″ (37 × 25 cm) 
4/11/2015 · Big Cypress Bend, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida · ≈ 1½ × 2½′ (53 × 79 cm) 
4/11/2015 · Big Cypress Bend, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida · ≈ 14 × 10″ (35 × 25 cm) 
4/12/2015 · Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, Florida · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (56 × 39 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Pteridophyta | Ferns |
| Class | Filicopsida | “Leptosporangiate” (has to do with how their spores form) ferns—includes most ferns |
| Order | Polypodiales | Polypod ferns |
| Family | Pteridaceae | Ferns that grow on rocks (mostly) |
| Genus | Acrostichum | Originally assigned by Linnaeus, referring to ferns whose spores-bearing sori are distributed in a uniform mass across the back of the frond, rather than organized in discrete sori, from Greek akros, “terminal,” and stichos, “a row or line,” in reference to the fertile fronds |
| Species | danaeifolium | Refers to the similarity of fronds to those of the fern Danaea |
Acrostichum danaeifolium description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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