溪边凤尾蕨 xi bian feng wei jue

Pteris excelsa Gaudichaud (1829), not Blume (1828); P. excelsissima Hayata; P. inaequalis Baker var. aequata (Miquel) Tagawa; P. kleiniana Christ (1896), not Campteria kleiniana C. Presl (1836); P. longipinnula Franchet & Savatier (1876), not Wallich ex J. Agardh (1839); P. semipinnata Linnaeus var. aequata Miquel.

Plants up to 180 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, robust, to 2 cm in diam., woody, apex with black-brown scales. Fronds clustered; stipe dark brown, upper part straw-colored, slightly lustrous, firm, robust, 70-90 cm × 6-10 mm, glabrous; rachis straw-colored, adaxially grooved; lamina 2-pinnatipartite, broadly triangular, 60-120 or more × 40-90 cm; lateral pinnae 5-10 pairs, alternate or subopposite, basal pairs 10-15 cm apart, shortly stalked, spreading, similar to terminal pinna, basal pair largest, more than 40 cm, sometimes forked at base, upper pinnae smaller, sessile; terminal pinna pectinately divided to nearly to costa, broadly lanceolate-oblong in outline, 20-30 cm or larger × 7-12 cm, attenuate toward apex, apex acuminate and caudate; segments 20-25 pairs, alternate, subspreading, falcate-lanceolate, 3.5-8(-10) × 0.6-1 cm, base slightly expanded, basiscopic side decurrent, sterile margins of apical fronds slightly serrate, apex acuminate; costae abaxially convex, straw-colored, glabrous, adaxially shallowly grooved, with thick spines along groove; veins abaxially conspicuous, sparse, decumbent, often 2-forked; lamina often pale green, herbaceous when dried, glabrous, base of pinnae rarely pubescent abaxially. 2n = 58, 87.

Open forests, scrub; 600-2700 m. Chongqing, Guangdong (Lechang, Yingde), Guangxi (Guilin, Lingui, Xiuren), Guizhou (Yinjiang, Zunyi), Hubei (Badong), Hunan (Qianyang, Yongshun), Jiangxi (Lushan, Xiushui), Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang (Cuona, Zayü), Yunnan, Zhejiang [N India, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), S Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam; Pacific islands (Fiji, Hawaii)].

This taxon has usually been treated as Pteris excelsa on the incorrect assumption that the name was validated in 1827. However, it must be treated as a later homonym and the next available name, P. terminalis, used (Fraser-Jenkins, Taxon. Revis. Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes, 416-417. 2008).