乌来铁角蕨 wu lai tie jiao jue

Asplenium arisanense Tagawa; Tarachia cuneatiformis (Christ) H. Itô.

Plants 50-60 cm tall. Rhizome ascending or shortly creeping, scaly; scales brown to black, narrowly triangular, entire. Fronds subcaespitose; stipe dull, dark purplish to gray-brown, semiterete, 19-24 cm, adaxially sulcate, base scaly, upward subglabrous; lamina narrowly triangular to ovate, 15-30 (-40) × 5-8 cm, bipinnate at base, apex acuminate; pinnae 14-20 pairs, opposite to alternate, stalks ca. 2 mm, basal pinnae not reduced, narrowly triangular to ovate, 5-6 × ca. 2 cm, apex obtuse to subacute, serrate; basal pinnae 1-pinnate, free pinnules 1-3(or 4) pairs, basal acroscopic pinnule largest, ovate-trullate, 10-14 × 5-6 mm, apex obtuse or truncate, base cuneate, adnate to costa toward apex, apical pinnae pinnatifid or simple, acroscopic side auriculate. Costa flat to slightly raised adaxially. Veins obvious on both surfaces, anadromous, 2- or 3-forked, not reaching margin. Fronds papery, brown when dry, lamina subglabrous; rachis semiterete, dull, dark purplish to gray-brown abaxially, green toward apex, with small subhastate to stellate reduced scales or hairs to subglabrous, adaxially sulcate and often gemmiferous near apex. Sori 1-3 on basal pinnule, median on subtending vein, not reaching margin, linear, 5-9 mm; indusia brown to dark brown, linear, membranous, entire, opening toward costa or costule, persistent.

● On wet rocks or epiphytic, often near streams; 100-1200 m. Taiwan.

Asplenium cuneatiforme is similar to A. affine, which has a wider and more-divided frond, and to the Pacific A. lobulatum Mettenius ex Kuhn with a creeping rhizome and a less-divided lamina.