九老洞耳蕨 jiu lao dong er jue

Plants summer-green. Rhizome erect, 3-5 mm tall, 1-2 mm in diam. Fronds 6-10 cm; stipe lower part castaneous, upper part green, slender, 1-8 cm, ca. 0.5 mm in diam., sparsely scaly; scales lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, thinly membranous, with few long teeth. Lamina bi- to tripinnatilobate, lanceolate, 4-7 × 1-1.5 cm, slightly or not contracted toward base, acuminate; rachis grass-green, abaxially sparsely scaly; scales brown, narrowly lanceolate, basal margins with few long teeth, with 1 proliferous bulbil between basalmost pinnae, bulbil densely covered with brown scales. Pinnae 10-20 pairs, ovate, lower pairs slightly shortly stalked, ultimate segments slender, with only 1 veinlet, oblanceolate, 1-3 mm, 0.3-1 mm, acute; grass-green when dry, abaxially darker, abaxially sparsely scaly; microscales brown, narrowly lanceolate, entire, evanescent; frond texture thinly papery. Sori basal on ultimate segments; indusia brown, thinly membranous, irregularly peltate, coarsely lacerate, often larger than ultimate segments.

● Among moss on wet limestone cliffs, broad-leaved evergreen forests; ca. 1800 m. Sichuan (Emei Shan).

Polystichum jiulaodongense is a slender species, similar to a small individual of P. caruifolium, but it has a proliferous bulbil between the basalmost pinnae, its sori are basal on the ultimate segments, and its indusia are irregularly peltate with coarsely lacerate margins.