江西凤尾蕨 jiang xi feng wei jue

Plants ca. 70 cm tall. Rhizome not seen. Stipe light straw-colored or chestnut abaxially, shiny, ca. 40 cm, up to 2 mm in diam., shallowly grooved adaxially, basally scaly, distally glabrous; scales brown with brown margins, lanceolate, ca. 1 mm; lamina 2- or 3-pinnatipartite, oblong-ovate in outline, ca. 30 × 20 cm; lateral pinnae 6 or 7 pairs, opposite, oblique, 3.5-4.5 (-7) cm apart; basal pair of pinnae shortly stalked, other pairs sessile, lanceolate, 12-16 × 2-2.5 cm, base rounded-cuneate, apex caudate-acuminate, pinnae anisomerous, pectinately deeply divided leaving narrowly winged rachis, basiscopic side wider, basal pair of pinnae often with a basiscopic pinnule near base similar to main part of pinna but smaller; segments 19-23 pairs, alternate or subopposite, oblique, ca. 1 mm apart, linear, somewhat falcate, basal lobes shorter, median 13-16 × ca. 4 mm, parallel on both sides, base widened, margin entire, apex obtuse; terminal pinnae same shape and size as lateral pinnae, but symmetrical on both sides, shortly stalked (ca. 1 cm); costae and midvein prominent abaxially, pale straw-colored, glabrous, costae shallowly grooved adaxially, with spines on both sides, and a few spiculate thorns on costae; veins conspicuous on both surfaces, 2-forked, oblique, lateral veins of segment base arising abaxially from rachis, other lateral vein adaxially extended to margin of incision; lamina green, herbaceous when dried, glabrous; rachises same as stipes in color, glabrous, slightly grooved adaxially. Indusia gray-brown, linear, membranous, entire, persistent.

● Forests along valleys; ca. 500 m. Hunan (Lingxian, Yongshun), SW Jiangxi (Chongyi), Zhejiang.

Pteris obtusiloba is similar to P. fauriei but differs by the herbaceous lamina; narrow pinnae, median 2-2.5 cm wide, with shorter segments, 13-16 × ca. 4 mm, linear, slightly falcate, apex rounded; and costae with spiculate spines on both sides of groove adaxially.