司氏碗蕨 si shi wan jue

Dicksonia smithii Hooker, Sp. Fil. 1: 80. 1844; Culcita formosae (Christ) Maxon; Dennstaedtia formosae Christ; D. leptophylla Hayata.

Plants ca. 2 m tall. Fronds ± clustered; stipe to 100 cm, 20-30 mm in diam., stipe and rachis with dense, short, reddish brown hairs; rachis tea-brown, scabrous, rachillae and rachis concolorous, scabrous, with bilateral brown hairs; lamina 3- or 4-pinnate, to 100 cm, herbaceous, abaxially dark green, with sparse, scattered, transparent, glaucous, articulate, long hairs along veins and rachillae, adaxially brown when dried, with 1 or 2 short setae along rachilla and veins; pinnae many, alternate, 7-9 cm apart, spreading, with stalk ca. 5 mm, broadly lanceolate in outline, ca. 30 × 8-9 cm, broad at base, acuminate at apex, 2-pinnate; pinnules 20-25 pairs, alternate, ca. 2 cm apart, stalk ca. 1.5 mm, 1-pinnate; acroscopic pinnae spreading, broadly lanceolate, 4-6 × 1.8-2 cm, gradually shorter upward, slightly falcate, apex acuminate; basiscopic pinnae somewhat decurrent; ultimate pinnules 8-10 pairs, very shortly stalked to sessile, oblong, 5-8 × 3-5 mm, base asymmetrically cuneate, with decurrent narrow wings, anadromous, almost spreading, margin pinnatifid 1/3-1/2 to midrib or undulate-lobed, apex crenate; lobules entire or with 1 or 2 obtuse teeth. Veins obvious, pinnate furcate, veinlet not reaching margin, with obscure clavate hydathode at apex. Sori orbicular, located near notch of lobule base; indusium brown, bowl-shaped.

Wet places, often at forest margins in valleys; 400-800 m. Taiwan [Indonesia (Sulawesi), Philippines].

"Balantium formosae" (Christ, Geogr. Farne, 155. 1910) is sometimes treated as a synonym of Dennstaedtia formosae within this species, but it is nomen nudum of very uncertain application and not therefore validly published (Melbourne Code, Art. 38.1(a)).