昌江实蕨 chang jiang shi jue

Plants terrestrial, to 111 cm tall; rhizome short, erect, 2-4 cm, 4-10 mm in diam., with 2 or 3 rows of fronds, sparsely scaly; scales brown or blackish, lanceolate or spatulate, 4-5 × 2.5-3 mm, subclathrate, margin sparsely dentate on upper part, apex acuminate. Fronds close together; sterile fronds pinnate, 70-90 cm; stipe stramineous, 32-51 cm, sparsely scaly or glabrous near base; lamina oblong or ovate-oblong, 36-55 × 24-29 cm, thickly stiffly papery; terminal segment similar to lateral pinnae, longer than remaining lamina, somewhat more deeply incised than central pinnae, 25-30 × 2.5-4 cm, apex long flagellate, usually with a bulbil below tip; pinnae 2-4 pairs, alternate, with stalk 0.1-0.4 cm, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 17-19 × 3.5-4.6 cm, base asymmetrical, rounded to truncate, margin usually slightly crenate, without spines in sinuses, apex long flagellate; costae prominent abaxially and adaxially, secondary veins slightly prominent and with sparse scales; veins forming a costal areole and several to many distal areoles, veins toward margin free, excurrent, areoles with 1 or usually more, or irregular excurrent veinlets. Fertile fronds 85-112 cm; lamina usually narrower than in sterile fronds; pinnae 2 or 3 pairs, 7-8 × ca. 1.5 cm, base asymmetrical, rounded to truncate, apex obtuse to acuminate, terminal pinna 12-13.5 × 1.5-1.8 cm. Sporangia inserted usually throughout abaxial surface, arrangement acrostichoid, sporangia also inserted on abaxial surface of contracted pinnae in sterile fronds.

● Sandy soil near rivers in evergreen seasonal rain forests, in humid shaded conditions; 500-600 m. Hainan.