华南凤尾蕨 hua nan feng wei jue

Pteris wallichiana J. Agardh var. austrosinica Ching, Bull. Dept. Biol. Sun Yatsen Univ. 6. 27. 1933.

Plants ca. 1.5 m tall. Rhizome erect, short, thick, ca. 2 cm in diam., woody, apex with brown scales. Fronds clustered; stipe pale castaneous, up to 1 m, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., firm, glabrous, broadly grooved adaxially; rachis pale chestnut or reddish brown, sometimes brown straw-colored, with sparse reddish brown multicellular hairs, narrowly grooved adaxially; lamina usually 3-pinnatipartite, pentagonal-broadly ovate in outline, 80-100 × ca. 70 cm, central division a long ovate column, 60-70 cm, middle ones ca. 25 cm wide, stalked (8-10 cm), lateral branches smaller, usually again divided; lateral pinnules 14-20 pairs, alternate, decumbent, sessile or slightly shortly stalked, basal several pairs slightly shorter, ca. 1.5 cm apart, middle pinnules lanceolate, 15-20 × 3-4 cm, base broadly cuneate, nearly symmetrical, deeply pectinately divided leaving broadly winged costule, apex shortly linear-caudate; segments 17-25 pairs, alternate, sinuses obtuse-acute, 3-5 mm wide, slightly decumbent, falcate-lanceolate, 20-25 × ca. 3 mm, basally enlarged, apex shortly acuminate, sterile apex obtusely dentate; terminal pinnules similar to median lateral pinnules, stalked (ca. 1 cm); costules straw-colored, glabrous, with short spines on both sides of adaxial groove; veins conspicuous, oblique, anastomosing to form a series of narrow areoles along costules, several simple veinlets reaching incision in outer edge of arcuate vein, and veinlet free outward from areole, and basal veinlet of segment 2-forked at base; lamina brown-green, papery when dried, below with brown slender multicellular hairs.

● Dense forests within wet valleys; 400-1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi.