紫柄蕨 zi bing jue

Plants 80-100 cm tall. Rhizome long creeping, scaly at apex. Fronds approximate or sparse; stipe red-castaneous, shiny, 20-40 cm, base with short hairs and few lanceolate scales, distally glabrous; lamina oblong-lanceolate, 60-70 × 20-35 cm, somewhat tapered to base, pinnate-pinnatifid, acuminate at apex; pinnae 15-20 pairs, opposite, sessile, proximal pinnae narrowly lanceolate, middle pinnae larger, 13-20 × 2.5-5 cm, bases slightly broadened, rounded-truncate, proximal 1-3 pairs sometimes slightly shortened, pinnatifid, shortly acuminate at apices; pinnules 15-25 pairs, opposite, spreading, lanceolate and slightly falcate, 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm, bases slightly broadened and adnate to costae, connected to each other by a narrow wing, lobed to 1/2 distance to costae, apices shortly acuminate; segments triangular-oblong, acuminate and entire at apices. Veins hidden, pinnate on segments, 2-4 pairs per segment, basal pair arising from above base of costules. Fronds herbaceous, drying dark brown-green, abaxial surfaces with sparse short acicular hairs, hairs along costae, costules, and veins denser, adaxially with short setae along costules and veins; rachises and costae reddish brown, glabrous or sparsely shortly hairy. Sori suborbicular or ovate, 1 or 2 per segment, borne above middle of veinlets and close to margins, arranged in an irregular row on each side of costules. Sporangia glabrous or each with 1 or 2 hairs below annulus. 2n = 62, 124, 186.

Forests beside streams; 800-3000 m. Chongqing, Fujian, S Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam].

Lower Taxa

• Pseudophegopteris pyrrhorhachis var. glabrata (C. B. Clarke) Holttum
• Pseudophegopteris pyrrhorhachis var. pyrrhorhachis