水鳖蕨 shui bie jue

Scolopendrium delavayi Franchet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 32: 29. 1885; Phyllitis delavayi (Franchet) C. Christensen; Schaffneria delavayi (Franchet) Tardieu; Sinephropteris delavayi (Franchet) Mickel.

Plants up to 15 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short; scales black, narrowly triangular, margins sparsely toothed. Fronds simple, clustered; stipe chestnut-black to black, shiny, 3-10 cm, subglabrous, cylindrical but with an adaxial groove; lamina orbicular-reniform, usually 2.5-6 cm in diam., base cordate, margins entire to slightly sinuate, thin. Dark midrib distinct at base and running well into lamina, other veins usually obscure, veinlets mostly free but some connected near margin. Fronds herbaceous or papery, brownish green or brown after drying, minutely hairy. Sori linear, in pairs facing each other, confluent at maturity; indusia brownish, linear, persistent. Spores with lophate (alate) perispore.

On shaded wet rocks in forests; 600-1800 m. S Gansu, S Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal].

Based on its peculiar morphology and scolopendrioid sori, Asplenium delavayi has been placed in various satellite genera; these have now been abandoned because modern studies show them all nested within Asplenium. See Mickel (Brittonia 28: 326-328. 1976) for a discussion on the differences with supposedly related groups.