石盖蕨 shi gai jue

Aspidium foeniculaceum Hooker, Sp. Fil. 4: 36. t. 237. 1862; Diacalpe foeniculacea C. B. Clarke; Lastrea foeniculacea (Hooker) Beddome; Lithostegia foeniculacea (Hooker) Ching; Polystichum foeniculaceum (Hooker) J. Smith.

Rhizome ascending, stout, densely closed with brown, ovate acuminate, shortly fringed scales. Fronds 60-120 cm; stipe pale reddish or stramineous especially above, 18-40(-60) cm, 5-6 mm in diam., base with scales similar to those on rhizome, sparser upward; lamina 4- or 5-pinnate, shiny green adaxially, paler abaxially, ovate or deltoid-lanceolate, 45-80 × 30-50 cm, papery to softly leathery, slightly reduced at base, apex acuminate, rachis scaly as distal portion of stipe; pinnae 4 or 5(or 6) pairs, basal pair opposite, others alternate, stalked, obliquely spreading, contiguous; lowest pinnae longest, ca. 25 × 13 cm, broadly cuneate at base, apex acuminate; primary pinnules 14-16 pairs, alternate, stalked, obliquely spreading, lanceolate, 8-15 × 1.6-3 cm, basal pair longest, base broadly cuneate, apex acute; secondary pinnules ca. 10 pairs, alternate, rhombic-oblong, middle pair 1.6-2.4 × 0.7-1 cm, apex acuminate; tertiary pinnules 3 or 4 pairs, alternate, linear, basal pair 2- or 3-furcate; second pair of pinnae similar in size and shape to basal pair, upper pinnae gradually reduced to acuminate apex; pinnule axes and veins bearing brown, hairlike, and twisted scales abaxially. Sori small, 1 per segment, terminal on a very short acroscopic veinlet branch (appearing dorsal on single vein of ultimate segment); indusium firm, dark purple, ovoid, entire and covering sorus when young, splitting into 2-3 irregular segments when mature. n = 82.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, also broad-leaved and coniferous mixed forests; 2100-3200 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal].

The combination "Peranema foeniculacea" (B. K. Nayar & S. Kaur, Natl. Bot. Gard. Bull. 81: 27. 1963) was not validly published because a full and direct reference to the author and place of valid publication of the basionym was not provided (Melbourne Code, Art. 41.5).