硕大凤尾蕨 shuo da feng wei jue

Plants more than 1.3 m tall. Rhizome not seen. Stipe straw-colored, ca. 80 cm, ca. 5 mm in diam. at middle, glabrous, grooved adaxially; rachis similar, slightly lustrous, glabrous, grooved adaxially; lamina 2- or 3-pinnatipartite, ovate-oblong in outline, ca. 65 × 30-50 cm; lateral pinnae ca. 7 pairs, opposite or subopposite, slightly decumbent, stalked (5-10 mm), distal ones sessile, slightly asymmetrically broadly lanceolate, ca. 35 × 8 cm, base broadly cuneate, pectinately divided to narrowly winged costae, apex caudate-acuminate; basal pair of pinnae often with a basiscopic pinnule near base similar to main part of pinna but smaller; segments 30-35 pairs, alternate, 1.5-3 mm apart, decumbent, lanceolate, somewhat falcate, median ones 35-55 × 7-9 mm, basally wider, margins entire, apex obtuse; basal segments conspicuously shorter; terminal pinna similar to middle lateral pinnae, but symmetrical and with basal stalk ca. 1 cm; costae and midvein prominent abaxially, straw-colored, glabrous, costae adaxially shallowly grooved, with flat rigid spine on both sides, midvein with a few very short spines on upper surface; veins conspicuous on both sides, decumbent, 2-forked at base, lateral veins of segment base abaxially arising from rachis, and other lateral vein adaxially extended at margin of incision; lamina grass-green, thickly papery when dried, glabrous. Indusia gray-brown, linear, membranous, entire, persistent.

● Dense forests, wet valleys; ca. 2700 m. Guangdong, Sichuan (Emei Shan, Ya’an), SE Yunnan (Jingdong, Wuliang Shan).

Pteris majestica is similar to P. fauriei but much taller, more than 1.3 m, with lateral pinnae ca. 35 × 8 cm, and middle segments 3.5-5.5 cm × 7-9 mm.