福贡耳蕨 fu gong er jue

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect or ascending, short, densely covered with linear brown scales. Fronds up to 100 cm; stipe brown, 35-45 cm, 5-7 mm in diam. at base, densely covered with linear, lanceolate and larger scales; large scales bicolorous, blackish brown at middle, shiny, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, up to 30 × 10 mm, subentire, caudate. Lamina bipinnate, oblong-ovate, 60-70 × 24-40 cm near base, lower part slightly contracted, fertile, apex acute, fertile; rachis without proliferous bulbils, abaxially sparsely or densely scaly; scales brown or blackish brown, rarely black, lanceolate or linear, margins sparsely ciliate, apex acuminate. Pinnae 18-24 pairs, alternate, attached at right angles to rachis, shortly stalked, lanceolate; pinnae of basal lamina 16-20 × 2.6-3.2 cm, not contracted toward base, bases asymmetrical, 1-pinnate, apices caudate; costa abaxially scaly; scales light brown to dark brown, linear or lanceolate, scales of basal costa lanceolate. Pinnules 21-30 pairs, alternate, shortly stalked, narrowly deltoid-ovate, 1-2 cm × 4-7 mm, bases cuneate, with deltoid auricles acroscopically, margins with acute teeth or lobed, spinulose, apices acute; basal acroscopic pinnules largest, pinnatipartite to midrib; abaxially sparsely covered with shortly filiform microscales, adaxially glabrous; frond texture thickly papery; venation pinnate, lateral veins 5-10 pairs, dichotomous, relatively distinct. Sori 6-8 pairs per pinnule, in 1 row on each side of midrib, close to midrib, terminal on veinlets; indusia present, aristate-lacerate. 2n = 82*.

● Forests; 1300-2300 m. Yunnan.

Polystichum fugongense is similar to P. semifertile, but its lamina apex is fertile and its pinnules are narrowly deltoid-ovate.