美姑耳蕨 mei gu er jue

Plants evergreen. Rhizome unknown. Fronds ca. 30 cm; stipe stramineous, 12-20 cm, ca. 3 mm in diam. at base, sparsely scaly; scales light brown, ovate and lanceolate. Lamina lanceolate, 28-30 × 3.5-5 cm, slightly contracted at base, acuminate; rachis without proliferous bulbils, sparsely scaly; scales brown; larger scales lanceolate, margins ciliate; smaller scales filiform, strongly ciliate at base. Pinnae 20-22 pairs, alternate, ascendant, sparsely arranged, broadly lanceolate, 2-3.5 × 1-1.2 cm, bases obliquely broadly cuneate, subsessile, pinnate, apices acuminate and spinulose. Pinnules 2 or 3 pairs, alternate, ascendant, ovate or narrowly ovate, bases cuneate, margins with few open spinulose teeth, apices acuminate and spinulose; abaxially sparsely scaly; microscales filiform, strongly ciliate at base; frond texture leathery; venation pinnate on lobes, indistinct on both surfaces. Sori sparse, 1 or 2 per pinnule, on one side or both sides of midrib; indusia present, erose.

● Forests. SW Sichuan (Meigu).