小羽贯众 xiao yu guan zhong

Aspidium lonchitoides Christ, Bull. Herb. Boissier 7: 16. 1899; Cyrtomium vittatum Christ; Polystichum lonchitoides (Christ) Diels; P. vittatum (Christ) C. Christensen.

Plants 20-40 cm tall. Rhizome erect, densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Stipe stramineous, 5-15 cm, 1-3 mm in diam. at base, lower portion scaly; scales brown, blackish brown at center, ovate or lanceolate, margins fimbriate, gradually becoming glabrous upward. Lamina linear-lanceolate, 22-45 × 3-8 cm, base slightly contracted, imparipinnate or not, apex acuminate; rachis with sparse lanceolate or linear brown ciliate scales; stalk bases often scaly. Lateral pinnae 18-24 pairs, alternate, spreading, shortly stalked, broadly lanceolate; middle pinnae 1.5-4 × 0.8-1.5 cm, basiscopic base oblique, acroscopic base truncate and with acute auricles, pinna margins ± denticulate, apex with a gradually reduced lanceolate pinna; papery, abaxially with sparse lanceolate brown microscales or glabrous, glabrous adaxially; venation pinnate, indistinct on both surfaces, veinlets anastomosing to form 2 or 3 rows of areoles on each side of midrib, each areole with 1 or 2 included free veinlets. Sori throughout abaxial surface of pinnae; indusia margins with long teeth. 2n = 82*.

● Broad-leaved forests, Pinus forests, often on rocks; 1200-2700 m. Gansu (Wenxian), Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan (Nushan), Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.

Cyrtomium lonchitoides was assigned to C. subser. Balansana Ching & K. H. Shing ex K. H. Shing by Shing (Acta Phytotax. Sin. Suppl. 1: 1-48. 1965). Molecular data have shown that C. subser. Balansana should belong to Polystichum (Lu et al., J. Pl. Res. 118: 129-135. 2005). Cyrtomium lonchitoides has imparipinnate lamina (sometimes not obviously so) and multiple rows of sori on each pinna, which is consistent with its placement in Cyrtomium.

This species is a sexual diploid.