滇西旱蕨 dian xi han jue

Pellaea mairei Brause, Hedwigia 54: 201. 1914, not Cheilanthes mairei Brause (1913); Mildella mairei (Brause) C. C. Hall & Lellinger.

Rhizomes ascending to erect, sometimes with creeping branches; scales bicolorous, dark brown to black with narrow, light brown to reddish brown margins, narrowly lanceolate. Fronds clustered or closely spaced. Stipe dark brown, lustrous, 8-16 cm × 1.5-2 mm, ± terete, densely scaly at base; scales often slightly bicolorous, narrowly lanceolate, grading abruptly to moderate to dense, concolorous, linear-subulate (above a slightly expanded base) scales, also moderately to densely pubescent with short, unicellular hairs, mostly adaxially. Lamina brownish green when dry, ovate-deltoid or oblong-deltoid, 6-12 × 4-7 cm, pinnate-pinnatifid, papery, glabrous on both surfaces, apex caudate; rachis dark brown, slightly grooved adaxially, densely shortly hairy and with few small scales. Pinnae 3-5 pairs, basal pair longest, ovate-deltoid, 2.5-5 × ca. 2 cm, subsessile, apex long caudate (caudate portion ca. 2 cm); segments widely spaced, basiscopic segments enlarged, basal basiscopic segments longer than adjacent acroscopic ones, linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, 1.5-2 × 0.2-0.3 cm, margins entire, crenulate, or with 1 or 2 small lobes. Sori confluent, not interrupted at lobe sinuses or segment tips. False indusia continuous, appearing somewhat inflated, margins entire to erose, irregularly ciliate. 2n = 120*.

● Rock crevices and stone walls; 1000-3200 m. Guizhou, Hunan, Shaanxi (Ningshan), SW Sichuan, Yunnan.

Cheilanthes brausei is similar to C. nitidula but has long-caudate pinnae, more widely separated segments, and scales extending up the stipe.