稀子蕨 xi zi jue

Monachosorum elegans Ching; M. henryi var. microphyllum Christ; M. subdigitatum (Blume) Kuhn var. henryi (Christ) Tagawa.

Rhizome ascending, short, with minute hairs, bearing fronds radially. Stipe brownish in lower part, stramineous in upper part, (20-)30-50 cm or longer, (1.5-)3-5 mm in diam. near base, with minute hairs; lamina 3-pinnate, ovate-subtriangular to oblong-subtriangular, 30-70(-90) cm, (8-)30-40 cm wide at base, thinly herbaceous, apex acuminate; axes of fronds grooved abaxially, decurrent to each other; large gemmae 1-3 or more, distinct on middle or upper portion of rachis or also on pinna costa, rarely gemmae absent; pinnae ca. 15 pairs, broadly lanceolate to oblong, base truncate and shortly stalked, apex acuminate to caudate; pinnules lanceolate, base truncate and shortly stalked to subsessile, apex acuminate; basal pinnule anadromously, occasionally catadromously, arranged; secondary pinnules oblong, apex moderately acute. Sori 1 per segment, orbicular, close to margin of lobes, naked.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 500-2000 m. Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam].

The taxonomy of Monachosorum henryi is still problematic. It is almost impossible to separate it from the SE Asian M. subdigitatum (Blume) Kuhn when there are no gemmae on the rachis. Monachosorum elegans might be a small form of this species, reproduced by gemmae, or an ecological form on rock cliffs based on field observations in Guangxi.