近边耳蕨 jin bian er jue

Aspidium auriculatum (Linnaeus) Swartz var. submarginale Baker, J. Bot. 26: 227. 1888; Polystichum deltodon (Baker) Diels var. submarginale (Baker) C. Christensen.

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, short, 1.5-2 cm in diam. including stipe bases, rhizome apex and basal stipe densely scaly; scales brown to dark brown, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, membranous, margins with short cilia or shallowly erose, and mixed with smaller scales; smaller scales brown to dark brown, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, thinly membranous, margins fimbriate. Fronds 15-55 cm; stipe light stramineous, 2-20 cm, 0.5-1.5 mm in diam., distal stipe scales similar to basal stipe scales but smaller and mostly appressed. Lamina 1-pinnate, light green or light brownish green when dry, linear-lanceolate, slightly contracted at base, caudate to long acuminate. Pinnae 15-35 pairs, alternate, shortly stalked, ± ascendant, approximate to slightly remote, falcate-oblong, middle pinnae 1-2.5 cm × 4-10 mm at base, apices slightly ascendant, acute and with or without short spinules, bases asymmetrical, auricles deltoid, apex of auricles acute or shortly spinulose, proximal margins of auricles truncate or slightly curved, entire or with 1-3 shallow teeth, parallel to rachis, distal margins of auricles with 1-3 acute or obtuse coarse teeth, distal part of acroscopic margins of pinnae truncate or slightly recurved and curved, with acute tips or short spinules, or slightly irregular teeth, basal basiscopic margins narrowly cuneate, margins entire, distal basiscopic margins curved upward, margins with teeth similar to those on acroscopic margins; adaxially glabrous, abaxially sparsely covered with microscales; microscales ovate and long caudate or lanceolate, light brown, margins toothed; frond texture papery; venation slightly visible abaxially, indistinct adaxially, pinnate; lateral veins reaching tips of teeth, pinnate above pinna midrib from base upward, dichotomous or simple, simple or dichotomous below pinna midrib. Sori small, terminal on shorter veinlets, close to pinna margin, 1-7 above pinna midrib, 1-4 below midrib, only on upper part of pinnae; indusia present, dark brown, entire. Spores hemispherical in equatorial view; perispore sculpturing granulate.

● Wet limestone crevices and cliffs; 1100-1400 m. Sichuan (Emei Shan, Erlang Shan).

Polystichum submarginale is only known from Sichuan.