美丽节肢蕨 mei li jie zhi jue

Rhizome 4-6 mm in diam., densely scaly; scales brown at center, with pale or whitish margin, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, broad at base, 8-12 mm, margin toothed or ciliate, apex acuminate. Stipe stramineous, 15-25 cm, glabrous; lamina imparipinnate, 25-35 × 15-20 cm; pinnae 5-8 pairs, opposite, sessile, oblique or spreading, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, 12-16 × 1.5-2 cm, base rounded or cordate, cartilaginous margin narrow, apex long caudate; lamina herbaceous, both surfaces glabrous, or sometimes abaxially pubescent. Sori orbicular, almost confluent when mature, in 2(or 3) rows along costa, closer to costa, in 2 series between lateral veins.

Epiphytic on tree trunks; 2000-2600(-3400) m. ?Xizang, Yunnan [N Myanmar].

Two forms of Arthromeris elegans have been recognized: f. elegans with rhizome scales with toothed margins and with the lamina adaxially glabrous, and f. pianmaensis S. G. Lu (Acta Bot. Yunnan. 20: 406. 1998) with rhizome scales with ciliate margins and with the lamina adaxially pubescent.