假粗毛鳞盖蕨 jia cu mao lin gai jue

Microlepia caudifolia Ching; M. critica Ching; M. glabra Ching; M. micangshanensis X. S. Guo & B. Li; M. omeiensis Ching; M. sinostrigosa Ching; M. wentongensis B. S. Wang.

Plants terrestrial, 60-100 cm tall. Rhizome long and creeping, ca. 4 mm in diam., with dense, long, red-brown, acicular hairs. Fronds distant; stipe 30-40 cm, ca. 4 mm in diam. at base, basally sparsely brown hispid; rachis and rachillae with dense, short, brown hairs, glabrous adaxially; lamina brown-green when dried, bipinnate, oblong in outline, 30-60 × 20-25 cm, base slightly shorter, apex long acuminate; pinnae more than 25 pairs, alternate, 4-5 cm apart, obliquely spreading, with stalk ca. 2 mm, 1-pinnate, linear-lanceolate, lowest 2 or 3 pairs of pinnae slightly shorter, middle pinnae 12-15 × 2-3 cm, firmly herbaceous, both surfaces glabrous except for sparsely hairy veins abaxially, base asymmetrical, basiscopically cuneate, acroscopically truncate and slightly auriculate, widest at middle, gradually narrowed upward, apex acuminate; pinnules 20-22 pairs, adjacent, spreading, very shortly stalked, nearly rhombiform, 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-1 mm, with teeth, base asymmetrical, basiscopically narrowly cuneate, acroscopically truncate; lobes 2 or 3, oblong, serrate or pinnatisect, basal acroscopic lobe largest, margin coarsely denticulate, apex acute. Veins pinnate abaxially prominent, adaxially obscure. Sori small, terminal on apical furcate veinlets; indusium brown, orbicular-reniform, situated on broad base, brown, glabrous.

Near streams, shrublands; 100-1700 m. Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Vietnam].

Microlepia attenuata from Fujian is very close to M. pseudostrigosa and could prove to be a somewhat depauperate form with the lamina only 6-9(-14) cm wide with 11-14 pairs of pinnae and with a cupular indusium. (See "Doubtful species" at the end of the treatment.)