缩羽复叶耳蕨 suo yu fu ye er jue

Arachniodes chinensis (Rosenstock) Ching var. japonica Sa. Kurata, J. Geobot. 13: 99. 1965; A. gradata Ching; A. nanqingensis Ching; A. reducta Y. T. Hsieh & Y. P. Wu.

Rhizome shortly creeping, stiff, densely scaly; scales dark or reddish brown, linear-lanceolate or subulate, ca. 10 × 0.5-1.5 mm, firmly membranous and spreading, apex threadlike. Fronds contiguous, 65-95 cm; stipe stramineous, 30-50 cm, 2-3 mm in diam., base with scales similar to those on rhizome, upward with sparse appressed brown subulate and remotely denticulate-based scales; lamina 2- or 3-pinnate, green when dried, ovate-oblong, 35-45 × 24-30 cm, thinly or firmly papery, base rounded, apex acuminate, rachis scaly as distal portion of stipe; pinnae 8-10 pairs, alternate or lower 1(-3) pairs opposite, with to 2 cm stalk, (obliquely) spreading, contiguous or imbricate; lowest pinnae deltoid-lanceolate, ca. 17 × 7 cm, base rounded-cuneate, apex (long) acuminate; primary pinnules ca. 17 pairs, shortly stalked, imbricate, basal 1 pair as long as or shorter than distal pairs (ca. 5 × 1.9 cm), lanceolate, base acroscopically truncate, basiscopically cuneate, apex acuminate; secondary pinnules sessile, contiguous, oblong, apex acute or obtuse, margin dentate, aristate; upper pinnae slightly falcate; axes and veins of ultimate segments with dense minute brown subulate and denticulate-based scales abaxially. Sori terminal on ultimate veinlets, 1-6 pairs per ultimate segment, medial between midvein and margin or closer to midvein; indusia brown, membranous, lacerate or denticulate.

Forests; 300-800 m. Fujian (Nanjing), S Zhejiang [Japan].