伴藓耳蕨 ban xian er jue

Type: China. Sichuan: Luding County, Feiyueling, alt. 2800 m, 16 Nov 1934, H. Smith 13456 (holotype, PE!).

Validating Latin diagnosis: that of "Polystichum muscicola Ching ex W. M. Chu et Z. R. He" (Ching ex W. M. Chu & Z. R. He in Kung et al., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 5(2): 140-141, 228; t. 45: 1-2. 2001).

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, short, together with persistent stipe base ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Fronds 10-20 cm; stipe stramineous, 2-6 cm, thinner than 1 mm in diam., whole stipe sparsely scaly; scales brownish yellow, broadly lanceolate or broadly ovate-lanceolate, thinly membranous, with a few long teeth. Lamina 1-pinnate, yellowish green when dry, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or only linear-lanceolate, 7-13 × 1-2 cm, base slightly contracted or gradually contracted below middle, apex long acuminate; rachis stramineous, without proliferous bulbils, sparsely scaly; scales similar to basal stipe scales. Pinnae 10-23 pairs, attached at nearly right angles to rachis, ovate or ovate-oblong, apices acute, sessile, margins pinnatilobate or only sparsely toothed, teeth shortly spinulose, bases asymmetrical, acroscopic base ± auriculate, auricles of lower pinnae with 2 or 3 acute teeth, acroscopic margins mostly attached at acute angles to rachis and ascendant, basiscopic margins obliquely truncate, attached at nearly right angles to rachis and angled basiscopically, middle pinnae 5-9 × ca. 4 mm, basal pinnae often obviously contracted and ca. 3 mm long and wide; margins of lower lobes often with 2 or 3 acute teeth; frond texture thinly papery. Sori abaxial on veinlets, medial or closer to pinna margin, mostly 2-4 per pinna; indusia small, evanescent.

● Wet moss-covered rocks in forests; 2000-2800 m. W Hubei (Badong), W Sichuan (Emei Shan, Luding).

Polystichum muscicola Ching ex W. M. Chu & Z. R. He was not validly published because the herbarium in which the type is conserved was not specified (Melbourne Code, Art. 40.7).

Polystichum muscicola is similar to P. atkinsonii in habit and lamina texture, but its rachis lacks proliferous bulbils and its lower pinnae below the middle of the lamina are gradually contracted and attached at right angles to the rachis or slightly angled basiscopically.