弯柄假复叶耳蕨 wan bing jia fu ye er jue

Nephrodium diffractum Baker, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1898: 230. 1898; Acrorumohra diffracta (Baker) H. Itô; Arachniodes diffracta (Baker) Ching; Aspidium diffractum (Baker) Christ; Dryopteris reflexipinna Hayata; Polystichum diffractum (Baker) Masamune; Rumohra diffracta (Baker) Ching.

Rhizome with dense dark brown scales. Fronds 50-100 cm; stipe stramineous or dark brown basally, 20-55 cm and 2-4 mm in diam., base with brown linear-lanceolate and acuminate scales, glabrescent upward; lamina 4-pinnate, broadly ovate, 25-45 × 20-32 cm, base deeply cordate, apex acuminate, rachis glabrescent; pinnae 6-8 pairs, alternate, stalked, stalks deflexed and forming an angle of ca. 30° with extremely zigzag rachis downward from point of attachment; lowest pinna deltoid, ca. 18 × 15 cm, base asymmetrical, apex acute or acuminate; primary pinnules 7-9 pairs, stalked, spreading or deflexed, oblong-lanceolate, 9-11 × 4-5 cm, base unequal, apex caudate-acuminate; secondary pinnules 7 or 8 pairs, stalked, broadly ovate, 1.8-2.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, base rounded, apex obtuse; tertiary pinnules 3 or 4 pairs, shortly stalked, broadly ovate, 1.2-1.8 × 0.8-1.5 cm, base cuneate, apex obtuse to acute, margin pinnatifid, proximal lobes often nearly free, broadly ovate, margin with 3-5 obtuse teeth; upper pinnae gradually reduced to a pinnatifid apex. Lamina herbaceous, green when dried; costae, costules, and veins occasionally with red-brown lanceolate minute scales or appressed articulate hairs abaxially. Sori small, terminal on veinlets, 1-3 pairs on each ultimate segment; indusia brown, papery, entire, fugacious.

Wet slopes in broad-leaved forests or bamboos; 700-2500 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [SE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

The occurrence of Dryopteris diffracta in Guizhou is questionable considering that no specimen has been collected there since the one gathered by Cavalerie.