卤蕨 lu jue

Acrostichum inaequale Willdenow; Chrysodium aureum (Linnaeus) Mettenius; C. inaequale (Willdenow) Fée; C. vulgare Fée.

Plants 1-2 m tall. Rhizome erect; scales dark brown to black, broadly lanceolate, 1-2[-4] × 0.2-0.6[-2] cm. Stipe straw-colored to pale castaneous, 10-70[-100] cm, 0.5-1 cm in diam., glabrous upward; lamina 40-50[-300] × 20-40 cm, lateral pinnae to 5-12 pairs; sterile pinnae narrowly oblong, (10-) 15-35[-80] × 1.8-5.5[-8] cm, with stalk 0.5-1.5 cm, thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate to rounded, margin entire and cartilaginous, apex rounded to retuse and shortly mucronate; costae strongly raised abaxially, flat or slightly grooved adaxially; veins raised abaxially, hardly visible adaxially, closely spaced, copiously anastomosing to form irregular areoles. Fertile pinnae distal on frond, like sterile pinnae but slightly smaller. n = 30, 120.

Coastal areas, often in mangrove swamps; near sea level to 100 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan (Hualian, Pingdong), Yunnan [pantropical].