蕨萁 jue qi

Osmunda virginiana Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1064. 1753; Botrypus virginianus (Linnaeus) Michaux; Japanobotrychum virginianum (Linnaeus) M. Nishida ex Tagawa.

Rhizomes erect, short, cylindrical, fleshy, having many fleshy roots and annually producing 1 frond 25-70 cm tall. Sterile lamina: stalk 15-35 cm, subglabrous; lamina subternate, tri- or quadripinnatifid, pale green, broadly pentagonal or subdeltoid, 5-28 × 7-30 cm, thinly herbaceous, soft, abaxially lanuginose on midrib, base subtruncate or slightly cordate, apex acute or obtuse; pinnae broadly ovate, with basal pinnules small and middle ones large, oblong or ovate-lanceolate; ultimate segments elliptic or oblong, margin deeply lobed or dentate, apex acuminate; veins pinnate, free. Sporophore arising at top of common stipe; stalk 10-30 cm; lamina ovate-deltoid, 10-20 cm, 3- or 4-pinnate; pinnae stalked; sporangia globose or elliptic, each on tip of very short, sometimes obscure axes. Spore surface coarse and distantly verrucose. 2n = 184.

Forests; 1600-3200 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [temperate Asia: Himalaya, Japan, Korea, Russia; temperate regions within the N Hemisphere; Central and South America].