方柄凤尾蕨 fang bing feng wei jue

Plants to 63 cm tall. Rhizome erect. Fronds clustered, monomorphic; stipe chestnut-brown, 30-38 cm, ca. 2 mm in diam., nearly square in cross section, glabrous; lamina odd-pinnate, ovate in outline, 18-25 × 14-20 cm; lateral pinnae 2 or 3 pairs, opposite, oblique, basal pair shortly stalked, with basiscopic pinna, upper pairs sessile, linear-lanceolate, 10-13 × 1.3-1.6 cm, base cuneate or rounded-cuneate, margin undulate, often shallowly pinnatifid or with 1 or 2 lobes on each side, apex acuminate; terminal pinna similar to lower lateral ones in shape but longer, stalked, apex sterile, and sterile margin with short teeth; lamina gray-green when dried, papery, glabrous; veins conspicuous, midvein abaxially prominent, adaxially grooved, with needlelike spines along groove, lateral veins 2-forked. Sori linear, indusia grayish white, membranous, entire.

● Along streams in forests; ca. 400 m. S Guizhou (Libo).

Pteris quadristipitis looks superficially like P. cretica because of the rather few undivided pinnae; however, the entire pinna margins and spines along the costae place it in P. sect. Quadriauricula.