Dryopteris canaliculata Ching.

Plants 35-60 cm tall. Rhizome erect, densely clothed with lanceolate, pale brown scales. Fronds caespitose; stipe 3-5 cm, with broadly lanceolate, black or blackish brown scales; lamina narrowly elliptic, 25-30 cm, 8-11 cm wide at middle, pinnatifid, gradually narrowed toward base, apex acuminate; pinnae ca. 25 pairs, spreading, contiguous, 1.3-2 cm apart, shortly stalked, middle pinnae lanceolate, 4-6 mm, ca. 1.5 cm wide at base, acuminate, lower several pairs gradually shortened, basal ones only 1.5-2 cm; ultimate segments ca. 13 pairs, slightly oblique, contiguous, oblong, basal ones 6-8 × 2.5-4 mm, margin entire or irregularly lobed, apex truncate or rounded. Lamina herbaceous, both surfaces glabrous; rachis densely scaly; scales pale brown, broadly lanceolate, apex subulate, costa scales linear or linear-lanceolate; veins pinnate, obscure on both surfaces, simple, rarely 2-forked. Sori 2 or 3 pairs on each segment, nearer to margin than to costa; indusia brown, orbicular-reniform.

Some specimens of Dryopteris pulcherrima have been misidentified as D. polylepis (Franchet & Savatier) C. Christensen (see FRPS 5(1): 136. 2000). It differs from D. polylepis by its narrowly elliptic lamina (vs. elliptic) and rachis with adpressed, pale brown scales (vs. scales not adpressed and dark brown). Dryopteris polylepis only occurs in Japan.

● Forests, shaded wet places in valleys; 1500-2300 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang.