假亮叶耳蕨 jia liang ye er jue

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, short, ca. 1 cm in diam. including stipe bases. Fronds 7-17 cm; stipe stramineous, 2-5 cm, 0.5-1 mm in diam. at base, densely scaly; scales brown, ovate to broadly lanceolate, ca. 1.5 mm, membranous, margins fimbriate, apices acuminate; distal stipe scales sparser. Lamina 1-pinnate, green or light brownish green when dry, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 4-14 × 1-2.3 cm at middle, gradually slightly contracted below middle of lamina, 0.8-1.4 cm wide at base, acuminate; rachis stramineous, without proliferous bulbils, sparsely scaly; scales similar to distal stipe scales, ovate, margins with outgrowths, apices filiform. Pinnae 15-25 pairs, alternate, middle pairs attached at nearly right angle with rachis, upper pairs angled slightly acroscopically, lower pairs angled slightly basiscopically, oblong or nearly broadly lanceolate, shortly stalked, pinnatilobate or pinnatipartite, middle pairs 0.5-1.1 cm × 2-4 mm, bases asymmetrical, apices acute and ascendant; acroscopic base auriculate, auricles obovate or oblong and with 3 acute spinulose teeth, proximal margins of auricles parallel to rachis, acroscopic margins with 3 or 4 coarse acute teeth, basal basiscopic margins cuneate, entire, distal basiscopic margins curved upward, with 2 or 3 coarse acute teeth. Lobes 3 or 4 on acroscopic margins, 2 or 3 on basiscopic margins, elliptic, apices acute and spinulose; adaxially glabrous, abaxially sparsely scaly; microscales light brown, subulate; frond texture papery; venation pinnate on pinnae, lateral veins dichotomous on auricles, free on lobes, slightly distinct abaxially, indistinct adaxially. Sori in 1 row on each side of midrib, terminal on shorter veinlets, nearly medial; indusia present, light brown, entire, evanescent.

● Limestone cliffs and floors of karst caves; ca. 1500 m. C Guizhou (Anshun).