芒刺耳蕨 mang ci er jue

Aspidium auriculatum (Linnaeus) Swartz var. stenophyllum Baker; Hemesteum hecatopterum (Diels) H. Léveillé; Polystichum auriculatum (Linnaeus) C. Presl var. stenophyllum (Baker) Matthew; P. pseudomaximowiczii Hayata.

Plants evergreen. Rhizome ascending to erect, short, 1-1.5 cm in diam. including stipe bases, apically densely scaly; scales brown, broadly lanceolate or lanceolate, up to 6 mm, membranous, entire. Fronds 25-60 cm; stipe stramineous to amber, 4-15 cm, covered with scales; scales brown, varying in size, membranous; large scales broadly lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, entire; smaller scales lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, sparsely toothed or ciliate. Lamina 1-pinnate, green or light brownish green, adaxially darker, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 17-43 × 2-4 cm at middle, gradually contracted below middle, apex pinnatilobate and long acuminate. Pinnae 35-66 pairs, very shortly stalked; upper pinnae sessile, hardly remote or approximate, alternate or nearly opposite; pinnae above middle of lamina attached at right angles to rachis or slightly ascendant, lower pairs slightly reflexed, basal pairs strongly angled basiscopically, falcate or oblong-falcate, middle pinnae 1-2 cm × 3-8 mm, bases asymmetrical, apices obtuse or acute and long spinulose; acroscopic base wider and with deltoid auricles, proximal margins of auricles truncate or slightly pointing to rachis, parallel or nearly parallel to rachis, sometimes overlapping rachis, distal part of acroscopic margins of pinnae nearly truncate, basal basiscopic margins narrowly cuneate, margins entire; distal basiscopic margins truncate and curved apically, all margins except basiscopic base with regular spinulose teeth, proximal margins of auricles shallowly toothed; abaxially sparsely covered with microscales, adaxially glabrous, microscales light brown, lanceolate, sparsely toothed; frond texture papery; venation visible abaxially, indistinct adaxially, pinnate, terminating in teeth; lateral veins on acroscopic side pinnate from base upward, dichotomous or simple, lateral veins on basiscopic side simple or dichotomous. Sori small, terminal on shorter lateral veinlets, in 1 row on each side of midrib of pinna, medial, up to 14 above midrib, less than 8 below midrib, basiscopic base sterile; indusia present, light brown, repand or shallowly erose, evanescent. Spores elliptic in polar view, semicircular in equatorial view; perispore sculpturing plicate with reticulate ornamentation.

● Montane broad-leaved and coniferous forests, bamboo forests, rock crevices, close to mountain streams; 1000-2300(-2800) m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, S Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang.