假半育耳蕨 jia ban yu er jue

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect or ascending, short, densely covered with linear brown scales. Fronds 60-120 cm; stipe brown, 24-56 cm, 3-7 mm in diam. at base, densely covered with linear, lanceolate and larger scales; large scales bicolorous, blackish brown at middle, shiny, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, up to 30 × 10 mm, subentire, caudate. Lamina bipinnate, oblong-ovate, 43-67 cm, lower part 11-42 cm wide, slightly contracted toward base, base fertile, apex acuminate, often sterile; rachis without proliferous bulbils, abaxially sparsely or densely scaly; scales brown (rarely blackish), lanceolate or linear, subentire or sparsely toothed, acuminate. Pinnae often 13-25 pairs, alternate, attached at right angles to rachis, shortly stalked, lanceolate, bases not contracted, asymmetrical, apices attenuate; lower pinnae 7-25 × 1.8-3.8 cm, 1-pinnate; costa abaxially covered with linear light brown to brown scales, scales of costa lanceolate. Pinnules 10-20 pairs, alternate, shortly stalked, oblong or falcate-oblong, 1-2.3 × 0.5-1 cm, cuneate, with rounded auricles acroscopically, entire to lobed, shortly aristate, acute; basal acroscopic pinnules largest, pinnatipartite; abaxially sparsely covered with shortly filiform microscales, adaxially glabrous; frond texture thinly leathery to papery; venation pinnate, lateral veins 5-10 pairs, dichotomous, distinct. Sori large, 6-8 pairs per pinnule, in 1 row on each side of midrib, close to midrib, terminal on veinlets; indusia present, spinulose-lacerate.

● Forests; 2000-2400 m. W Yunnan.

Polystichum oreodoxa is especially similar to P. semifertile, but its lamina apex is not cuspidate.