台湾芒萁 tai wan mang qi

Dicranopteris linearis (N. L. Burman) Underwood var. montana Holttum.

Plants ca. 1 m tall. Rhizomes not seen. Stipe dark brown, ca. 35 cm, ca. 3 mm wide, glabrous; rachis 2 or more times dichotomously branched; apical buds ovate, small, covered with brown hairs, subtending bracts small and fugacious, so buds often apparently ebracteate; rachis with a pair of lateral pinnae at each dichotomy; first pair of lateral pinnae obliquely spreading, broadly lanceolate, 7-9 × 3-4 cm, base and apex attenuate; second pair smaller, ca. 4 × 1.5 cm; ultimate pinnae lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 15-25 × 4-7 cm, base attenuate, apex acuminate, subtended by lateral pinnae; lobes 25-40 on each side, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 3-3.5 × 0.4-0.6 cm, margin entire, apex obtuse or emarginate; lamina papery, glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, glabrous; costae prominent abaxially; veins 4 or 5 in each group. Sori in 1 line on each side of costule; sporangia 6-8.

Broad-leaved forests, forest margins; 1000-1700 m. Taiwan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka].

Dicranopteris taiwanensis was reported as the only species in Dicranopteris that has apical buds covered only by hairs, not by bracts. Further field studies (Ralf Knapp, pers. comm.) have shown that there are bracts though these are small and fugacious. This removes the main distinction from D. linearis var. montana and extends the distribution outside Taiwan.