45. Athyrium deltoidofrons Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo). 28: 178. 1914.
溪边蹄盖蕨 xi bian ti gai jue
Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely clothed with brownish, subulate lanceolate scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds (35-)45-75(-95) cm; stipe brown at base, upward stramineous, slightly pale purplish red, 25-55 cm, 1.5-2.5 mm in diam., base scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 2-pinnate, broadly ovate or ovate-oblong, 45-70 × 30-55 cm at base, rarely much narrower, apex acuminate; pinnae 15-20 pairs, basal pinnae subopposite, upper pinnae alternate, ascending, with stalk 3-5 mm, basal 1 or 2 pairs of pinnae slightly shortened, base slightly narrowed; middle pinnae broadly lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 25-35 × 2.5-5 cm, base truncate and parallel to rachis on acroscopic side, narrowly cuneate on basiscopic side, bipinnatipartite, apex acuminate; pinnules pinnatipartite, ca. 14 pairs, alternate, ascending, subsessile, lanceolate; basal pinnae shorter, 1.5-2.5 cm; middle pinnae up to 4 × 1.2 cm at base, base subequilateral, broadly cuneate, pinnatipartite, apex acuminate; pinnule segments ca. 10 pairs, oblique, basal acroscopic segment larger, others 4-6 × ca. 2 mm, with short teeth, rarely apiculate and curved teeth, apex acute; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in segments, simple or forked. Lamina herbaceous when dried or fragile, greenish brown or pale green, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae abaxially stramineous, with sparse pallid short hairs, with short spines adaxially, costules also spiny. Sori horseshoe-shaped, oblong, or J-shaped, 1-5 per segment (usually to 7 in basal acroscopic segments); indusia pale brown, horseshoe-shaped, oblong, or J-shaped, membranous, erose at margin, persistent. Perispore surface without folds, with granular ornamentation. 2n = 240.
Valleys, damp areas, streamsides, wet grasslands; 800-2000 m. Fujian, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].
