贡山耳蕨 gong shan er jue

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, densely covered with ovate brown scales. Fronds 20-25 cm; stipe stramineous, 3-10 cm, 2-3 mm in diam. at base, scaly; scales brown, narrowly ovate and lanceolate. Lamina bipinnate, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, 15-20 × 4.5-6 cm, base rounded-cuneate, slightly contracted, apex acuminate; rachis without proliferous bulbils, abaxially sparsely scaly; scales light brown, lanceolate, slightly twisted. Pinnae 18-20 pairs, alternate, attached at right angles to rachis, broadly lanceolate to narrowly deltoid, middle pairs 2.2-3 × 1-1.4 cm, obliquely broadly cuneate or nearly truncate, pinnate, acute. Pinnules 4 or 5 pairs, alternate, slightly ascendant, broadly ovate or rhombic-ovate, bases obliquely cuneate, margins entire or with few small teeth, apices acute and spinulose; basal acroscopic pinnules largest, 7-12 × 4-6 mm; abaxially sparsely scaly; microscales filiform, strongly ciliate at base; frond texture leathery; venation pinnate on pinnules, slightly concave abaxially, adaxially indistinct. Sori in 1 row on each side of midrib, 1-3 pairs per pinnule; indusia entire.

● Slopes, roadsides, rock crevices; 1500-2500 m. NW Yunnan (Gongshan).