天星蕨属 tian xing jue shu

Kaulfussia Blume, Enum. Pl. Javae 2: 260. 1828, not Dennstedt (1818), nor Nees (1820).

Plants terrestrial. Rhizomes creeping. Stipes with pulvini at base of segments. Laminae simple (and then usually pedately lobed) to palmately compound, bases rounded to pedate, margins simple to broadly crenate, apices acute to acuminate. Venation reticulate. Stomata large, raised, orbicular, permanently open, densely distributed on abaxial frond surfaces, visible to naked eye. Scales flattened, peltate with lobed margins on short stalks, hairs glandular, mixed with scattered uniseriate simple hairs. Sori ± in rows on either side of main veins, appearing scattered. Sporangia fully fused into circular, sessile synangia, sporangia dehiscing by a vertical slit on inside of synangium. Spores monolete, ellipsoid, exospore long spinulose, spines simple. 2n = 80, 160.

One variable species: patchily distributed from NE India and SE Asia to the Solomon Islands.

Lower Taxon

• Christensenia aesculifolia (Blume) Maxon