凌云蹄盖蕨 ling yun ti gai jue

Rhizomes erect, apex densely clothed with yellow-brown, linear-lanceolate scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds 40-70 cm; stipe blackish brown, upward brown-stramineous to purplish red, 20-28 cm, 2-4 mm in diam. at base, base similarly densely scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 2-pinnate, broadly ovate, 22-42 × 18-25 cm, base hardly narrowed, apex acuminate, slightly cuspidate; pinnae 12-17 pairs, spreading or slightly ascending, lower pinnae with stalk 1-3 mm, upper pinnae sessile, basal pinnae hardly shortened, broadly lanceolate, base prominently narrowed; middle pinnae oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 8-18 × 2-4.5 cm at middle, base slightly narrowed, subtruncate on acroscopic side, broadly cuneate on basiscopic side, pinnate, apex acuminate; pinnules 20-22 pairs, basal pinnules subopposite, upper pinnules alternate, ascending, sessile; middle pinnules oblong, somewhat falcate, 1-3 cm × 4-10 mm, base decurrent and adnate to wing of costa, pinnatilobate, apex rounded or obtuse; pinnule segments dentate at margin; lower pinnae similar to middle pinnae but slightly smaller; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins 4-10 pairs, middle and lower veins forked or pinnate. Lamina papery when dried, greenish brown, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae pale red-purple, with dense brownish short glandular hairs abaxially, with subulate spines on adaxial side at base of costa or costule. Sori oblong, frequently J-shaped in distal part of pinna or basal acroscopic part of pinnule, inframedial on basal acroscopic veins, 6-8 pairs per pinnule, biseriate on both sides of costules, inframedial; indusia brownish, oblong, or J-shaped, membranous, erose at margin, persistent. Perispore surface without folds, with granular ornamentation.

● Mountain slopes, forests, wet areas; 500-600 m. NW Guangxi (Baise, Lingyun).