卵状鞭叶耳蕨 luan zhuang bian ye er jue

Cyrtomidictyum conjunctum Ching, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 6: 263. 1957.

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, short, together with basal stipe densely scaly; scales brown, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, thickly membranous, margins ciliate, apices acuminate. Fronds dimorphic, 20-38 cm; stipe brownish stramineous, 10-20 cm, 1.5-2 mm in diam. at middle; distal stipe scales similar but sparser and smaller, ovate or lanceolate, margins ciliate, apices caudate. Fertile lamina 1-pinnate, yellowish green when dry, adaxially slightly shiny, lanceolate, 10-20 × 2.2-5 cm at base, apex pinnatifid-acuminate; rachis stramineous, without proliferous bulbils, sparsely scaly abaxially; scales similar to distal stipe scales, brown, ovate or lanceolate, margins ciliate, apices filiform. Pinnae 5-7 pairs, alternate, approximate, angled slightly acroscopically, ovate-deltoid or oblong, 1.5-2.5 × 1-1.2 cm, shortly stalked, bases obliquely rounded and asymmetrical, apices acute; acroscopic base auriculate, auricles deltoid, margins entire, proximal margins of auricles slightly curved and nearly parallel with rachis, acroscopic margins of pinnae subentire or shallowly toothed; basal basiscopic margins rounded and forming a ± 45° angle with rachis, distal basiscopic margins curved upward; abaxially densely scaly along midribs, adaxially subglabrous; microscales light brown, ovate-lanceolate, margins densely ciliate, apices filiform; frond texture thinly leathery; venation pinnate, 3 or 4 in pinnate groups, distinct abaxially, indistinct adaxially; lateral veins forked, reaching pinna margin. Sori small, in 1 row on basiscopic side of midrib, often 2 rows on acroscopic side of midrib, terminal on veinlets, whole lamina fertile, exindusiate. Sterile lamina similar to fertile lamina and with fewer pairs of pinnae; rachis apex often elongate and forming a long flagelliform nodding stolon with proliferous scaly bulbil.

● Rock crevices by streams in broad-leaved forests; ca. 300 m. Jiangxi.