南海铁角蕨 nan hai tie jiao jue

Asplenium loriceum Christ, nom. illeg. superfl.; A. makinoi Yabe ex Hayata; A. sublongum Ching ex S. H. Wu.

Plants (30-)50-80 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, apex scaly; scales reddish brown in center, narrowly triangular, costate with narrow pale denticulate margin. Fronds caespitose, rarely simple, usually pinnate with terminal pinna conform with lateral ones; stipe 7-10 cm in simple fronds but 20-25(-40) cm in pinnate fronds, grayish green, scaly at base, subglabrous when old, adaxially grooved; lamina (in simple fronds) linear-lanceolate, 15-35 × 1.5-2.5 cm, lamina in pinnate fronds ovate, 18-35(-50) × 10-26 cm; pinnae 2-6 pairs, lower pinnae subopposite, with stalk 3-5(-10) mm, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 12-16(-20) × 1.5-2.6 cm, base cuneate and decurrent on stalk, margin repand to sinuate, apex acuminate to caudate. Veins obvious, costa stramineous, notably raised on both sides, veins 2- or 3-forked, free. Fronds papery to subleathery when living, grayish green to brown when dry, abaxially with small, dark brown, fimbriate scales along costa, subglabrous when old; rachis grayish green, with small, dark brown, fimbriate scales. Sori linear, 5-10(-15) mm, median to supra-median on acroscopic veinlets; indusium gray, linear, membranous, entire, opening toward costa, persistent.

Shaded places in dense forests or streamsides; 100-2300 m. Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan [Japan, Vietnam].

Specimens of Asplenium formosae with sterile simple fronds are similar to A. scortechinii, but their fronds have an even to repand margin (notched in A. scortechinii) and a more prominent midrib. Asplenium loriceum is a superfluous new name because the epithets "formosae" and "formosanum" should not be regarded as homonyms.

Asplenium loriceum var. karapinense (Hayata) Tagawa (Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 2: 200. 1933; "Diplazium makinoi var. karapinense" Hayata, Icon. Pl. Formosan. 5: 272. 1915), described from Taiwan, is sometimes treated as a synonym of this species. The epithet for Asplenium makinoi was taken from "Diplazium makinoi" (Yabe, Enum. Pl. Formosa, 600. 1906), which is a nomen nudum and was not therefore validly published (Melbourne Code, Art. 38.1(a)).