大鳞巢蕨 da lin chao jue

Neottopteris antiqua (Makino) Masamune; N. rigida Fée var. erubescens Nakai; Thamnopteris antiqua (Makino) Makino.

Plants 80-100 cm tall. Rhizome erect, massive; scales on apex brown to dark grayish brown, ovate-triangular, entire to fibrillose. Fronds caespitose; stipe pale brown to dark brown, 2-5(-7) cm, woody, terete abaxially, adaxially grooved, scales at stipe base numerous, similar to those on rhizome, 15-30 × 2-6 mm; lamina narrowly lanceolate, 75-100 × 6.5-8.5(-15) cm, cuneate at base, margin entire and cartilaginous. Midrib raised on both sides, semiterete abaxially, dark brown, subglabrous; veins slightly raised on both sides, forked or simple, parallel, connected to marginal vein. Fronds leathery, after drying brownish green or brownish. Sori linear, 3-4 cm, on acroscopic veins, occupying 2/3-3/4 of subtending vein, lower parts of lamina usually sterile; indusia brownish or grayish brown, linear, thickly membranous, entire, persistent. Spores with lophate perispore. Plants tetraploid: 2n = 144.

On rocks or tree trunks in forests; 600-1600 m. Fujian, ?Hunan, Taiwan [Japan, Korea].

Asplenium antiquum was wrongly reported from Hainan (S. H. Wu, FRPS 4(2): 137. 1999).