粗齿黔蕨 cu chi qian jue

Aspidium blinii H. Léveillé, Fl. Kouy-Tchéou, 456. 1915; Arachniodes coadunata (Ching) T. Nakaike; A. duplicatoserrata (Ching) T. Nakaike; A. kweichowensis (Ching) T. Nakaike; A. neofalcata T. Nakaike; Phanerophlebiopsis blinii (H. Léveillé) Ching; P. coadunata Ching ["coadnata"]; P. duplicatoserrata Ching; P. falcata Ching; P. kweichowensis Ching.

Rhizome thick, creeping, densely clothed with reddish brown, linear-lanceolate scales. Frond (30-)50-100 cm; stipe stramineous, 13-45 cm, 2-3 mm in diam., base with scales similar to those on rhizome, gradually sparser or glabrescent upward; lamina 1-pinnate, grayish green when dried, oblong or lanceolate, 16-55 × 9-22 cm, thinly leathery, glabrous on both surfaces or axes sparsely bearing brown, linear scales abaxially, shiny adaxially, apex with a conform terminal pinna or gradually reduced, acuminate, rachis glabrescent; (lateral) pinnae 6-13 pairs, alternate or lower pairs opposite, spreading or slightly ascending, stalked, broadly to narrowly lanceolate, sometimes falcate, 6-15 × 1.5-3 cm, base symmetrical or nearly so, cuneate, apex acuminate to shortly caudate, margin strongly serrate, crenate, or shallowly lobed, teeth or lobes usually with 1-5 cartilaginous aristate tips; veins pinnate, veinlets 2-4 pairs on each set of lateral veins, veinlets simple or forked. Sori terminal or subterminal on veinlets, in 1-3 rows on both sides of midvein of ultimate segment; indusia brown, membranous, and fugacious.

● Evergreen forests, more often in valleys and damp shaded places, especially on acidic soils; 500-1600 m. Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi.

There is much variability in the frond size, the lamina apex (acuminate or with a distinct terminal pinna), the division on the pinna margin, and the number of rows of sori on each side of the midvein. Field observation revealed that this variation is continuous and can be found on leaves of a single rhizome. Thus, no characters can be used to distinguish the above mentioned synonyms, which were accepted in FRPS (5(1): 96-100. 2000).

Arachniodes intermedia (Ching) T. Nakaike (J. Phytogeogr. Taxon. 49: 13. 2001; Phanerophlebiopsis intermedia Ching, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 7(1): 72. 1987) and A. neohunnanensis T. Nakaike (J. Phytogeogr. Taxon. 49: 15. 2001; Phanerophlebiopsis hunanensis Ching, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 7(1): 74. 1987) may belong here. The types, both from Hunan (Yongshun), have not been seen, and no other specimens are available.