喜马拉雅石杉 xi ma la ya shi shan

Lycopodium hamiltonii Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 5: 429 (sub L. obtusifolium). 1828, based on L. obtusifolium Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 18. 1825, not (P. Beauvois) Swartz (1806); Huperzia aloifolia (Wallich ex Greville & Hooker) Trevisan; H. hamiltonii (Sprengel) Trevisan; L. aloifolium Wallich ex Greville & Hooker; L. empetrifolium Dalzell; Urostachys aloifolius (Wallich ex Greville & Hooker) Herter ex Nessel; U. hamiltonii (Sprengel) Herter ex Nessel.

Lycophytes, medium-sized. Stems caespitose, mature branches pendulous, 2 to several times forked, 20-80 cm, main stems ca. 6 mm in diam., stem together with leaves 2.8-3.5 cm wide. Trophophylls much or slightly angled upward, elliptic-lanceolate, ca. 1.6 cm, more than 6 mm wide, base cuneate, decurrent, mature leaves inconspicuously stipitate, lustrous, leathery, midrib distinct, margin entire, apex obtuse. Strobili slightly thinner than sterile part, not columniform, terminal on branches. Sporophylls sparsely arranged, elliptic-lanceolate, 9-13 × ca. 1.5 mm, midrib distinct, base cuneate, margin entire, apex blunt. Sporangia yellowish, reniform, vertically bisected.

Epiphytic on tree trunks or rocks in broad-leaved evergreen forests; 700-2300 m. W Yunnan (Ximeng, Yongde) [Bhutan, India, N Myanmar, Nepal].

Historically, the distribution of Phlegmariurus hamiltonii was widely reported from the Himalaya to SW, S, and E China and SE Asia (e.g., Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam). In fact, it is only a Sino-Himalayan species, so all other distributions are based upon misidentifications.

The description of the spore morphology of "Lycopodium hamiltonii Sprengel" in Sporae Pterid. Sin. (39-40. 1976) is not that of this species.

The leaves of this species are elliptic-lanceolate, strongly angled upward, sessile, and lustrous.