中华刺蕨 zhong hua ci jue

Acrostichum sinense Baker, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1906: 14. 1906; Campium sinense (Baker) C. Christensen; Egenolfia crassifolia Ching; E. sinensis (Baker) Maxon; Polybotrya sinense (Baker) C. Christensen.

Rhizome shortly creeping, ca. 1 cm in diam., with 2 or 3 rows of fronds; scales brownish or blackish, ovate-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, subclathrate. Fronds close together; sterile fronds pinnate, 20-110 cm; stipe 10-35 cm, base ca. 3 mm in diam., grooved adaxially; lamina green to blackish, dark green when dry, ovate-lanceolate, 40-110 × 10-35 cm, herbaceous, both surfaces glabrous; terminal segment 8-30 cm; rachis with a narrow wing except for lowest part, with sparse dark brown, ovate scales; pinnae 14-30 pairs, alternate to opposite, sessile, 2-3 cm apart, elliptic, 10-14 × 2-2.5 cm, base truncate, ± symmetrical, margin lobed to 1/3-2/3 toward costa, apex rounded or acuminate; lobes 16-20 pairs, ca. 1 mm apart, 8-12 × 4-5 mm, margin usually entire or finely crenate-serrate, apex rounded, with a spine in each sinus; veinlets 6 or 7 pairs, pinnate, simple or bifurcate. Fertile fronds 16-80 cm; stipe as long as sterile ones; lamina lanceolate, 22-30 × 4-5 cm, apex caudate; pinnae 10-14 pairs, 2-3 cm apart, narrowly lanceolate, 4-5 × ca. 0.5 cm, base truncate to slightly cordate, apex acuminate, basal pairs 3-4 mm stalked. Sporangia inserted throughout abaxial surface. 2n = 82.

In soil or on rocks in dense forests; 600-1900 m. Guizhou, Hong Kong, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lesser Sunda Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].