穴子蕨 xue zi jue

Polypodium maximowiczii Baker in Hooker & Baker, Syn. Fil., ed. 2, 504. 1874; Monachosorella maximowiczii (Baker) Hayata; Monachosorum maximowiczii var. melanocaulon (Hayata) Hayata; Phegopteris maximowiczii (Baker) Christ; Polystichum maximowiczii (Baker) Diels; P. maximowiczii var. melanocaulon Hayata; Ptilopteris maximowiczii (Baker) Hance.

Plants evergreen, small to medium-sized. Rhizome ascending, short, minutely pubescent. Stipe shiny, brown, subglabrescent, 3-10 cm; lamina 1-pinnate, linear-lanceolate, 15-50 × 2-6 cm, thinly herbaceous; rachis elongate and bearing buds at apex; pinnae ca. 50 pairs, broadly lanceolate to narrowly oblong, 1.5-3.2 cm × 3-7 mm, acroscopic base truncate and auriculate, basiscopic base cuneate, sessile, margin deeply dentate, apex acute to moderately so; lateral veinlets simple, parallel, adaxially with sparse, pale yellowish, minute hairs. Sori 1 per tooth, orbicular, small, without indusia but often covered by reflexed teeth at margins of lobes.

Often in colonies in rock crevices and caves, also on forest floor or as a low epiphyte; 800-2500 m. Anhui, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Japan].