From a supposed resemblance of the fronds to leaves of the Oleander, Nerium oleander L.

Stilt Fern.

Oleandra neriiformis Cav.

Terrestrial or epiphytic ferns. Rhizome long-creeping or erect and climbing, bearing elongate tapering scales with marginal hair-like processes. Fronds simple, not dimorphic. Stipe much shorter than lamina, articulated to a phyllopodium; stipe and rachis grooved adaxially. Lamina lanceolate; venation open, simple or forked; hydathodes on upper surface at vein endings. Sori superficial, on veins; indusium reniform or round. Spores bilateral to spherical; surface ± echinate with larger wing-like folds.

A pantropical genus of 15 or more species (Field 2020); 28 species, fide Plants of the World Online (accessed 26 November 2023); 1 species in Australia.

In the Flora of Australia Volume 48 (Bell 1998), Oleandra was treated within the family Davalliaceae.

At the time of the Flora of Australia Volume 48, Bell (1998: 445) cited that there were perhaps 40 species in the genus, and furthermore "A worldwide revision is required to determine the limits of morphological variation within taxa. It is likely that the number of species may be reduced, as some characters used to distinguish them are not well-founded." This indeed happened with Asiatic species where Hovenkamp & Ho (2012) reduced a large number of species to Oleandra neriiformis and O. sibbaldii.

Bell, G.H. (1998). Davalliaceae, in McCarthy, P.M. (ed.), Flora of Australia 48: 434–450. (ABRS: Canberra/CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood); Oleandra pp. 445–446.

Clifford, H.T. & Constantine, J. (1980). Ferns, Fern Allies and Conifers of Australia; a Laboratory Manual 50. (University of Queensland Press: St Lucia).

Field, A.R. (2020). Classification and typification of Australian lycophytes and ferns based on Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification PPG I. Australian Systematic Botany 33(1): 1–102 [80–81].

Hovenkamp, P.H. & Ho, B.-C. (2012). A revision of the fern genus Oleandra (Oleandraceae) in Asia. PhytoKeys 11: 1–37; doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.11.2955.

Jones, D.L. (1987). Encyclopaedia of Ferns: an introduction to ferns, their structure, biology, economic importance, cultivation and propagation. (Lothian: Port Melbourne).

Jones, D.L. & Clemesha, S.C. (1981). Australian Ferns and Fern Allies 2nd edn. (Reed Books: Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.).

Nayar, B.K., Bajpai, N. & Chandra, S. (1968). Contributions to the morphology of the fern genus Oleandra. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 60(383): 237–417.

Schwartsburd, P.B., Miranda, C.V. & Prado, J. (2016). Oleandra (Oleandraceae) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. American Fern Journal 106(3): 191–205.

Revised edition, 26 November 2023. Adapted from Bell (1998). Updated by P.G. Kodela, November 2023.