洛克叉蕨 luo ke cha jue

Tectaria burmanica Ching; T. kweichowensis Ching & Chu H. Wang; T. linloensis Ching & Chu H. Wang.

Plants terrestrial, 60-120 cm tall. Rhizome decumbent or ascending, short, densely scaly at apex and stipe bases; scales stiff, dark brown, linear-lanceolate, 10-15 mm, membranous, entire, apices long acuminate. Fronds clustered or close together; stipe glossy, 40-80 cm, 5-8 mm in diam. at base, grooved, scaly toward base, covered throughout with dark brown, articulate hairs. Lamina bipinnate to tripinnatifid, dark green when dried, deltoid-ovate, 40-60(-80) cm, thickly papery, abaxially glabrous, adaxially pubescent, base cordate, apex acuminate; rachises castaneous, costae and midribs brown to deep stramineous, densely covered with articulate hairs; terminal pinna acuminate, deltoid, ca. 20 × 15 cm, base broadly cuneate, pinnatifid or pinnate-lacerate, lobes falcate-lanceolate, subentire, apices caudate; basal pinnae bipinnate, ca. 10 × 20-30 cm, rather large, stalks 2-3 cm, bases acuminate with 2 or 3 separate lobes, lobes lanceolate, rather long beneath, undulate or pinnatifid; middle pinnae 3 or 4 pairs, lanceolate, subopposite or alternate upward, interval 8-12 cm, oblique; fertile pinnae homomorphic but smaller, stalks short below, sessile upward, pinnatifid, bases cordate, apices caudate. Veinlets forming irregular areoles, included veinlets forked, inconspicuous adaxially and raised abaxially. Sori small, orbicular, located at coupling veinlets, in irregular rows between adjacent main veins; indusia brown, orbicular, small, membranous, entire, persistent.

Limestone areas in dense forests; 700-1200 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Indochina, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

Tectaria rockii is characterized by its dark brown to castaneous stipe and pinnatifid terminal pinna; however, the lateral pinnae are variable. We confirm that T. linloensis and T. kweichowensis are synonyms, the types (in PE and K) of these both representing T. rockii. Tectaria linloensis has in the past been treated as a synonym of T. simonsii (Chu H. Wang, FRPS 6(1): 89. 1999; S. G. Wu, Fl. Yunnan. 21: 206. 2004), which is not correct.