Pellaea paradoxa is a small hardy fern found north of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 in eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...

. Often growing in or near rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

s in rocky crevices. But it may occasionally be seen in drier areas. Fronds are usually curved, 4 to 9 cm long, and 1 to 4 cm wide. Leathery to touch and a dull green. Juvenile fronds may be heart shaped. The stalks are around 1 to 5 mm long. Sori appear in a band, usually 2 to 3 mm wide, at the edge of the underside of the fronds.

This plant first appeared in the scientific literature in 1810 as Adiantum paradoxum, in the Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, authored by the prolific Scottish botanist, Robert Brown

Robert Brown (botanist)

Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...

.