奇叶贯众 qi ye guan zhong

Aspidium anomophyllum Zenker, Pl. Ind. 1: 1. 1835; Cyrtomium beddomei S. R. Ghosh; C. brevicuneatum Ching & K. H. Shing; C. caryotideum (Wallich ex Hooker & Greville) C. Presl var. anomophyllum (Zenker) T. Moore; C. kansuense Ching & K. H. Shing; C. kungshanense Ching & K. H. Shing; C. microindusium Sa. Kurata; C. neocaryotideum Ching & K. H. Shing; C. nervosum Ching & K. H. Shing; C. shunningense Ching & K. H. Shing; C. yuanum Ching & K. H. Shing; Polystichum anomophyllum (Zenker) Nakai; P. nervosum (Ching & K. H. Shing) C. M. Kuo.

Plants 25-70 cm tall. Rhizome erect, densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Stipe stramineous, 14-55 cm, 2-4 mm in diam. at base, lower portion scaly; scales brown, ovate or lanceolate, margins toothed. Lamina oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 18-44 × 10-16 cm, base slightly contracted or not contracted, 1-imparipinnate, apex obtuse; rachis covered with lanceolate or linear curved brown scales or glabrous. Lateral pinnae 3-6 pairs, alternate, slightly ascendant, shortly stalked, ovate, broadly lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate; middle pinnae 7-15 × 2.5-4.5 cm, base broadly cuneate or rounded-cuneate, serrulate, acroscopic margins with weakly developed semicircular auricles, apex acuminate or slightly caudate; terminal pinna broadly obovate, obovate, or ovate, forked or trifurcate, 6-13 × 5-11 cm; hard papery or papery, glabrous on both surfaces; venation pinnate, slightly raised abaxially, indistinct adaxially, veinlets anastomosing to form multiple rows of areoles. Sori throughout abaxial surface of pinnae; indusia dark, margins entire.

Forests; 1700-2800 m. W Sichuan (Muli), Taiwan, Xizang (Nyalam), NW Yunnan (Gongshan, Weixi, Zhenkang) [Bhutan, India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan].

This species had been referred to Cyrtomium nervosum Ching & K. H. Shing (Fraser-Jenkins, Pakistan Syst. 5: 85-120. 1992; Kung et al., FRPS 5(2): 214. 2001) until Fraser-Jenkins’s new combination.

There is cytological evidence showing that Cyrtomium brevicuneatum, C. kansuense, C. kungshanense, C. neocaryotideum, C. nervosum, and C. yuanum are all conspecific with C. anomophyllum. While C. brevicuneatum, C. kungshanense, and C. yuanum are the sexual forms, C. kansuense, C. neocaryotideum, and C. nervosum are apomictic forms (Matsumoto et al., 5th Symp. Asian Pteridol. Fern Show: Progr. & Abstr. 2010).

The sexual diploids have been discovered only in Sichuan and Yunnan, while apomictic triploids are spread all over the region. This implies that Cyrtomium anomophyllum may have originated in SW China and became dispersed throughout Sino-Japanese, Sino-Himalayan regions and India following the evolution of apomictic forms (Matsumoto et al., loc. cit.).

Two myricetin glycosides, the 3-O-glucoside and the 3-O-rhamnosylglucoside, were isolated from Japanese samples of Cyrtomium anomophyllum. However, they were absent from Nepalese, Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, and Pakistani samples, implying the heterogeneity in chemical constituents between the Japanese populations and those in the remaining regions.

This species is intermediate between Cyrtomium caryotideum and the entire (or rarely weakly toothed at the apices) C. macrophyllum. It is distinguished by its lower pinnae being very rounded and often bent at their basiscopic bases, with the margins rather weakly toothed, mainly toward the apices, sometimes becoming entire below (Fraser-Jenkins, Taxon. Revis. Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes, 330. 2008).

Cyrtomium maximum Ching & K. H. Shing (Acta Phytotax. Sin., Addit. 1: 44. 1965), described from Simao, S Yunnan, is based on a single sterile frond. It is most similar to C. anomophyllum, but more studies are needed.