欧洲凤尾蕨(原变种) ou zhou feng wei jue (yuan bian zhong)

Pteris cretica var. intermedia (Christ) C. Christensen; P. cretica var. nervosa (Thunberg) Ching & S. H. Wu; P. cretica var. subserrulata Christ; P. nervosa Thunberg; P. pentaphylla Willdenow; P. serrulata Forsskål var. intermedia Christ; P. sichuanensis H. S. Kuang; P. xichouensis W. M. Chu & Z. R. He.

Stipe straw-colored, surface smooth. Pinna base broadly cuneate, decurrent or not, sterile margins serrate and often rough and acute, apex acuminate and acutely serrate.

Among shrubs on limestone terrain; 400-3200 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian (Nanping), Guangdong (Lianxian), Guangxi, Guizhou, SW Henan (Jigong Shan, Neixiang, Zhenping), Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi (Jianggangshan, Lushan), S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, W Zhejiang (Shouchang) [Cambodia, India, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; Pacific islands (Fiji, Hawaii)].

Fraser-Jenkins (Taxon. Revis. Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes, 101. 2008) is followed in including Chinese material previously named as Pteris cretica var. nervosa (more correctly var. intermedia) within var. cretica.

Pteris xichouensis and P. sichuanensis are probably best regarded as somewhat depauperate forms of this species with mostly strictly 1-pinnate fronds with entire, unbranched pinnae (the basal pinnae occasionally forked in P. sichuanensis).

Pteris dangiana X. Y. Wang & P. S. Wang (Pterid. Fl. Guizhou, 581-582. 2001) appears to be another member of the P. cretica complex. It was likened to P. guangdongensis in the protologue, but that species has monomorphic fronds.