俅江铁角蕨 qiu jiang tie jiao jue

Asplenium qiujiangense Ching ex S. H. Wu, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 9(2): 90. 1989, not (Ching & Fu) Nakaike (1986); A. dulongjiangense Y. F. Deng (2003), not Viane (1991).

Plants 50-100 cm tall. Rhizome shortly creeping or erect, scaly; scales purplish brown, narrowly triangular, entire. Fronds caespitose; stipe 30-38 cm, semiterete, base scaly, upward subglabrous, dull, grayish green, adaxially sulcate; lamina ovate-triangular, 45-60 × 26-30 cm, apex acute-acuminate, bipinnate to 3-pinnatifid; pinnae 15-20 pairs, subopposite to alternate, stalk 6-19 mm, basal pinnae slightly reduced, narrowly triangular-ovate, 14-16 × 3.8-4.2 cm, apex caudate, 1-pinnate to 2-pinnatifid; pinnules 8-10 pairs, anadromous, stalks 2-3 mm, basal pinnules ± equal in size and shape, rhomboid, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 cm, apex obtuse, base cuneate-truncate, almost symmetrical to asymmetrical, margin dentate. Veins obvious, raised adaxially, veins flabellately anadromous, not reaching margin. Costa green, with reduced scales or subglabrous, adaxially sulcate with broad supravascular ridge. Fronds papery, green, subglabrous; rachis dull grayish brown, with reduced scales or subglabrous, adaxially sulcate. Sori 3-8 per pinnule, basal on subtending vein, linear, 3-8 mm; indusia brownish, membranous, entire, opening toward costule or costa.

● Dense forests; ca. 1200 m. NW Yunnan (Dulongjiang Valley).

Asplenium subspathulinum is a distinctive species, similar to A. pseudolaserpitiifolium, known only from a restricted region. It is also close to A. nitidum Swartz, but that taxon has more trullate and acute pinnules.