短柄蹄盖蕨 duan bing ti gai jue

Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely clothed with brownish, linear-lanceolate scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds ca. 50 cm; stipe blackish brown, upward stramineous to slightly purplish red, ca. 20 cm, ca. 3 mm in diam. at base, base similarly densely scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 2-pinnate, ovate-oblong, ca. 35 × 20 cm at middle, base slightly narrowed, apex abruptly narrowed; pinnae under abruptly narrowed tip 8 or 9 pairs, alternate, ascending, with stalk ca. 5 mm, lower pinnae subequal to above, lanceolate, up to 18 × 3-3.5 cm, base equilateral, somewhat auriculate (acroscopic auricles larger, triangular), crenulate at margin, apex caudate-acuminate; upper pinnae sessile, falcate-lanceolate, base inequilateral, truncate, somewhat auriculate on acroscopic side, cuneate and slightly decurrent on basiscopic side, apex acute; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs, oblique, forked or simple (pinnate in basal acroscopic segment). Lamina subherbaceous when dried, pale green, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae pale red-purple, with short brownish glandular hairs abaxially, with subulate spines on adaxial side at base of costa or costule. Sori oblong or shortly linear, 7 pairs per pinnule (2 pairs per basal acroscopic auriculate lobes), inframedial; indusia brownish, oblong or shortly linear, membranous, entire, persistent. Perispore surface without folds, with ornate ornamentation, reticulations different in size, ridges usually disconnected.

● Valley forests; ca. 1300 m. Chongqing, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi, Sichuan.