攀缘鳞始蕨 pan yuan lin shi jue

Lindsaea yaeyamensis Tagawa, Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 6: 31. 1937; L. merrillii var. yaeyamensis (Tagawa) W. C. Shieh.

Rhizomes long creeping, scandent, castaneous, sparsely scaly; scales spreading, reddish brown, lanceolate, 6-12 cells wide at base, entire. Fronds distant, 2-3 cm apart; stipe castaneous at base and stramineous upward, 1-8 cm, quadrangular except for cylindrical basal part; lamina linear, 20-40 × 2-3 cm, once pinnate, membranous, apex acuminate to caudate; pinnae 35-50 pairs, dimidiate, alternate, narrowly triangular or oblong, cuneate at base, crenate or shallowly lobed at upper and outer margins, obtuse at apex; veins free, forked, distinct on both surfaces. Sori submarginal, 1 in each lobe, terminal on a single vein, sometimes on uniting 2 veins; indusia oblong, 1 in each lobe. 2n = 94.

Epiphytic on tree trunks in forests, sometimes terrestrial; near sea level to 500 m. Taiwan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands)].

Lindsaea merrillii subsp. merrillii was described from the Philippines.

Lindsaea merrillii Copeland (Perkin’s Fragm. 181. 1905) was included in FRPS (2: 265. 1959) as a species distinct from L. yaeyamensis, which was included under L. macraeana (Hooker & Arnott) Copeland (loc. cit.: 266).